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OF  CALIFORNIA 

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AN    EARLY 

Connecticut    Engraver 

AND    HIS    WORK 


By  ALBERT  C.   BATES 

Librarian    Connecticut   Historical  Society 


ILLUSTRATED 


HARTFOKI) 

1906 


OlivzVercival- 


! 


'-•-'.-'•;:    §£■/§§;  Astixi 

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■ftSI  gal  J® 


DETAIL  FROM  THE  NICKELSON  PLATE. 


AN   EARLY 

Connecticut    Engraver 

AND    HIS  WORK 


By  ALBERT  C.  BATES 

Librarian  Connecticut  Historical  Society 


ILLUSTRATED 


HARTFORD 

j  9  o  6 


Copyright,  1906, 

By 

ALBERT  C.   BATES 


/g-y 


The  Case,  Lockzvood  b"  Brainard  Company,  Hartford,  Conn. 


NE 


I 

LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Angus  Nickelson's  (detail) 

John  Allen 

Elijah  Backus 

Abijah  Brooks 

Israel  Butler 

Harry  Case 

Sam1  Cooley 

Forward 

Frederick  Frye 

L.  Gay  and  L.  G. 

Timothy  Hall 

Mat1"  Reuben  Humphreys 

Lydia  Griswold  Phelps  Humphreys 

Laura  G.  Humphreys  and  Nancy  Humphreys 

Solomon  Ingraham 

Jonathan  Knight's 

"Larrabee  Watch" 

"  Larrabee  Watch  " 

Cap1  Gideon  Leavenworth 

"Masonic  Plate" 

Sam1  Mather 

Nabby  C.  Moore 

Newgate  (reduced) 

NeWGATB   (detail) 

Angus  Nickelson's  (reduced) 

JoSIAH  OlCOTT 

Peter  Osgood 

Oliver  Peasi 

Ri  QI81  BR  (reduced) 

Gad  Rosi. 

J  ■  i  OB  S  \K(,i.  \n  r 

John  Saroi 

[3] 


UBf 


R.EVd  Philo  Shelton 

Peter  Sherman 

John  Tyler 

D.  Waldo's 

George  Washington   (reduced) 

Noah  Wells 

W.  Wheeler 

"Amos  White" 

John  Williams 

Erastus  Worthington 


W 


The  work  of  the  engraver  on  metal  is  always  a  fas- 
cinating study,  and  the  interest  is  not  lessened  if  the  study 
and  comparison  be  confined  to  the  limited  area  of  one 
state  and  to  the  limited  period  of  the  latter  part  of  the 
eighteenth  century. 

In  Connecticut  there  were  perhaps  but  three  engravers 
on  metal  working  before  the  close  of  the  revolutionary 
war,  although  there  were  a  number  of  others  before  the 
end  of  the  century. 

The  earliest  Connecticut  engraver  was  Amos  Doo- 
little.  He  was  born  May  8,  1754,  and  died  Jan.  31, 
1832,  in  New  Haven,  where  almost  his  whole  life  had 
been  passed.  When  young  he  was  placed  with  a  jeweler 
and  learned  the  trade  of  a  silversmith.  As  an  engraver 
he  was  entirely  self  taught.  His  earliest  and  perhaps  his 
most  interesting  engravings  are  a  series  of  four  views  de- 
picting the  engagement  at  Lexington  and  Concord,  Mass., 
on  April  19,  1775.  Amos  was  at  that  time  a  member  of 
the  recently  organized  Second  Company  of  Governor's 
Foot  Guard  and  marched  with  his  company  on  receiving 
news  of  the  engagement,  and  during  his  twenty-eight  days' 
service  around  Boston  had  opportunity  to  visit  Lexington 
and  vicinity.  It  is  said  that  Ralph  I'.arlc,  later  a  portrait 
painter,  was  with  him  and  made  drawings  on  which  his 
engravings  were  based.  I  he  series  was  advertised  Dee. 
13,  1775,  as  "  this  day  published,"  ami  the  price  stated  as 
"six  shillings  per  set  for  the  plain  ones  or  eight  shillings 
Colored.*1  Each  engraving  measures  a  little  more  than 
14  by  18  inches.     Their  titles  are  (1)   The  Battle  of  I  .e\- 

hi 


ington,  April  19th,  1775,  (2)  A  View  of  the  Town  of 
Concord,  (3)  The  Engagement  at  the  North  Bridge  in 
Concord,  (4)  A  View  of  the  South  Part  of  Lexington. 
Perhaps  his  largest  engraving,  aside  from  maps,  was  A 
Display  of  the  United  States  of  America,  the  central 
figure  of  which  is  a  portrait  of  Washington.  It  measures 
upwards  of  20  by  16  inches,  was  first  issued  probably  in 
1788,  and  later  four  times  reissued  with  considerable 
changes.  He  engraved  maps  of  Connecticut  and  of  Ver- 
mont, one  of  the  latter  state  measuring  45  by  30  inches. 
Portraits  by  him  of  Washington,  Jonathan  Trumbull  and 
John  Adams  are  found  in  The  Connecticut  Magazine  pub- 
lished in  1 80 1.  Five  book-plates  signed  by  him  are 
known,  all  Connecticut  plates,  and  several  others  unsigned, 
also  of  Connecticut,  are  attributed  to  him.  In  addition 
to  the  few  examples  mentioned  he  engraved  many  por- 
traits, figures,  views,  descriptive  plates  and  title  pages. 
His  work  was  well  executed  and  he  certainly  deserves  his 
fame  as  the  first  Connecticut  engraver. 

The  second  Connecticut  engraver  was  Joel  Allen,  who 
was  born  in  Farmington,  now  Southington,  Conn.,  in  1755, 
the  son  of  Daniel  Allen,  a  store  and  tavern  keeper  of  that 
town.  Joel  assisted  his  father  in  the  store  and  kept  the 
books,  which  he  wrote  in  a  beautiful  "  copper  plate  "  hand. 
Later  he  seems  to  have  lived  in  Middletown,  where  he 
owned  property,  as  much  of  his  engraving  was  done  there. 
He  was  very  versatile  and  did  many  things  of  interest  be- 
sides engraving,  such  as  regulating  and  repairing  clocks 
and  watches,  making  "  tooth  instruments,"  repairing  the 
pipe  organ  for  Christ  Church  Society  in  Middletown  and 
"  making  a  reed  for  a  hautboy."  The  earliest  dated  work 
of  his  that  has  been  noted  by  the  writer  is  the  elaborately 
engraved  title  of  "  Select  Harmony  "  by  Andrew  Law 
which  is  signed  "Farmington  1779.     J.  Allen  Sculpsit." 


[6] 


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He  also  engraved  other  music  books.  His  most  ambitious 
work  was  a  map  of  Connecticut  bearing  the  following 
title  and  imprint,  "  A  New  and  Correct  Map  of  the  State 
of  Connecticut  one  of  the  United  States  of  North  Amer- 
ica from  actual  survey  —  Humbly  Dedicated  by  permis- 
sion, to  His  Excellency  Samuel  Huntington  Esquire  Gov- 
ernor and  Commander  in  Chief  of  said  state.  Joel  Allen 
Scrip1,  et  Sculp1.  Printed  in  Middletown  for  the  Publisher 
March  1792."  It  measures  28  by  36  inches.  An- 
other map  of  Connecticut  engraved  by  him  of  the  same 
size  and  probably  printed  from  the  same  plate  has  a 
slightly  different  title,  being  dedicated  to  the  governor  by 
William  Blodget  and  undated.  He  printed  301  impres- 
sions of  the  map  of  Connecticut  for  William  Blodget  in 
March  to  July,  1792.  Whether  this  number  included  im- 
pressions of  one  or  both  varieties  of  the  map  it  is  impos- 
sible to  say,  but  probably  it  was  only  of  the  dated  variety. 
He  also  engraved  book-plates;  one  for  Joseph  Perry,  one 
for  Maj.  George  Phillips,  both  armorial,  and  others  are 
said  to  be  known  to  collectors.  Akin  to  these  was  the 
"  advertisement  to  put  on  snuff  bottles  "  which  he  en- 
graved for  Nathaniel  Shaler.  In  1790  he  charges 
"  Boardman  "  for  "  2  Miniatures  £3 — 12,"  from  which  it 
would  seem  that  he  tried  his  hand  at  portrait  work.  His 
engraving  was  done  with  bold  free  strokes.  He  was  of 
an  artistic  temperament,  idealistic  and  sensitive,  traits 
which  he  transmitted  to  his  descendants.  During  the 
Revolution  he  served  as  a  fifcr  in  the  company  of  Noah- 
diah  Hooker  of  Karmington.  His  death  occurred  in 
1S25.  And  now  of  the  third  Connecticut  engraver, 
around  whom  our  interest  more  particularly  centers  at  this 
time. 

Toward  the  close  of    the  eighteenth   century   there  re- 
sided in  the  town  of  Suflield,  Conn.,  a  short   distance  west 


l?l 


from  the  village  of  West  Suffield,  the  family  of  Gad  Rose. 
With  this  family  there  lived  soon  after  1790  one  Richard 
Brunton.  He  is  remembered  under  the  familiar  cog- 
nomen of  "  old  Brunton."  It  is  probable  that  the  osten- 
sible business  of  this  lodger  and  boarder  in  the  Rose  family 
was  that  of  an  engraver  on  metal,  and  we  know  that  he  en- 
graved a  book-plate  for  Mr.  Rose  during  his  sojourn  of  a 
year  or  more  in  the  family.  His  real  business  was  without 
doubt  that  of  a  counterfeiter  of  paper  money  printed  from 
plates  cut  by  himself.  It  is  related  that  officers  once 
searched  his  room  at  Mr.  Rose's  house  in  search  of 
counterfeit  bills  or  plates  for  their  manufacture,  but  with- 
out success.  It  is  also  said  that  Mr.  Brunton  remarked 
after  the  search  that  the  officers  came  too  soon,  as  he  had 
completed  only  the  plate  for  one  side  of  some  bills.  In 
spite  of  this  bravado,  it  is  possible  that  his  departure  from 
Mr.  Rose's  was  a  sudden  one  aided  by  the  strong  arm  of 
the  law;  else  why  should  he  leave  numerous  of  his  en- 
graved plates  at  Mr.  Rose's  house?  That  he  was  confined 
in  Newgate,  Connecticut's  state  prison,  but  a  few  miles 
from  West  Suffield,  for  the  two  years  from  1799  to  1801 
we  now  have  positive  proof.  His  largest  known  engraving 
is  a  view  of  the  prison  yard  and  buildings,  and  his  best 
known  portrait  work  is  an  engraving  of  Maj.  Reuben 
Humphreys,  keeper  of  the  prison  about  1796-1801.  The 
engraved  plate  of  this  portrait  was  about  twenty  years 
since  in  possession  of  a  granddaughter  of  Maj.  Hum- 
phreys. She  stated  that  it  was  "  engraved  by  one  Mr. 
Stiles,  a  convict  in  the  Newgate  prison."  The  engraver's 
initials,  R.  B.,  which  appear  on  a  lower  corner  of  the  plate 
plainly  show  that  it  was  not  the  work  of  "  one  Mr.  Stiles," 
but  the  statement  that  it  was  done  by  a  convict  is  doubtless 
correct.  There  is  also  a  tradition  that  the  view  of  New- 
gate was  engraved  by  a  prisoner. 


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The  records  of  the  Superior  Court  in  Windham 
County,  Conn.,  for  the  March  term  of  1799,  contain  the 
following  judgment: 

"  State  vs.  Richard  B  run  ton,  a  Transient  Person. 
Timothy  Larrabee,  Esq.,  Attorney  to  the  State  of  Con- 
necticut in  &  for  the  County  of  Windham,  complaint  makes 
and  information  gives  that  one  Richard  Brunton,  a  tran- 
sient person,  now  in  the  custody  of  the  Sheriff  of  Wind- 
ham County,  did,  on  or  about  the  first  day  of  February 
last  past,  in  Woodstock  in  the  County  of  Windham,  wit- 
tingly &  feloniously  with  force  and  arms,  make  sundry  in- 
struments called  Types  &  dies  for  the  purpose  of  counter- 
feiting the  True  Silver  Coin  which  are  passing  within  this 
State,  &  was  then  and  there  assisting  therein  —  which  do- 
ings of  the  sd  Richard  Brunton  were  &  are  against  the  pub- 
lick  peace  &  contrary  to  the  Statute  Laws  of  sd  State  in 
such  case  made  &  provided  as  p.  information  on  file  dated 
March  20,  1799.  Now  the  said  Richard  Brunton  being 
arraigned  for  tryal  before  the  bar  of  this  Court,  and  on 
such  his  arraignment  being  asked  whether  he  was  guilty 
of  the  Crime  in  sd  information  charged  against  him,  or 
not  Guilty,  he  answered  &  plead  that  he  is  not  guilty  of 
said  Crime,  and  for  trial  put  himself  on  the  Court. 

1  Now  the  said  Richard  Brunton  was  fully  heard  with 
his  evidences  and  his  counsel  thereon,  together  with  the 
evidences  and  counsel  for  the  State.  And  this  Court  hav- 
ing duly  considered  thereof,  are  of  opinion  and  do  find  that 
the  said  Richard  Brunton,  the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  is  guilty 
of  the  Crime  in  sd  information  charged  against  him. 

11  Whereupon  it  is  considered  by  this  Court  and  this 
Court  do  sentence  &  against  him  the  sd  Richard  Brunton 
give  judgement  that  he  shall  suffer  imprisonment  in  New- 
gate Prison  or  workhouse  in  the    Town  of   (iranby  in  the 

County  of  Hartford,  there  to  be  kept  to  hard  labor  for 

the  full  term  of    Two  \ears  and  pay  Cost  ot   this  prosecu- 

[9] 


tion,  Taxed  at  $48.72  &  to  stand  committed  until  sd  sen- 
tence &  judgment  be  fulfilled  —  and  that  Execution  go 
forth  accordingly." 

The  Superior  Court  was  at  this  time  a  circuit  court, 
four  judges  constituting  a  quorum,  and  a  court  of  original 
jurisdiction  for  cases  of  this  character.  It  convened  in 
Windham  on  March  5,  and  on  the  second  week  following, 
March  18  to  23,  this  trial  occurred,  as  is  shown  by  the  fol- 
lowing item  in  the  Windham  Herald  of  March  28  : 

"  Last  week  before  the  hon.  superior  court  then  sitting 
in  this  town,  Joel  White,  of  Woodstock,  was  convicted  of 
counterfeiting  Spanish  milled  dollars,  and  Richard  Brun- 
ton  of  making  tools  for  counterfeiting,  and  both  were  sen- 
tenced to  two  years  imprisonment  in  Newgate." 

Possibly  Brunton  and  White  were  partners  in  crime, 
but  they  were  tried  and  convicted  separately,  as  the  court 
records  show.  The  record  of  prisoners  confined  in  New- 
gate states  that  Brunton  was  sentenced  March  28,  doubt- 
less meaning  that  he  began  his  term  of  imprisonment  on 
that  day,  as  we  know  that  he  was  convicted  and  sentenced 
before  that  date. 

The  term  of  the  penalty  may  seem  today  to  be  a  short 
one  for  the  crime  of  which  Brunton  was  convicted,  yet  an 
examination  of  the  records  will  show  that  it  was  fully  up 
to  the  average  sentence  at  that  period  for  that  crime. 
Counterfeiting,  apparently,  was  not  frowned  upon  as 
sternly  then  as  it  is  today. 

The  Newgate  prison  buildings  were  built  around  the 
shaft  of  an  abandoned  copper  mine.  In  this  mine,  thirty 
feet  or  more  below  the  surface,  surrounded  by  ever  drip- 
ping walls  of  rock,  huts  and  bunks  had  been  built  and  pro- 
vided with  straw  and  blankets.  In  this  place,  always  wear- 
ing their  shackles,  most  of  the  prisoners  were  confined  each 
night.    In  the  morning  they  climbed  the  ladder  to  the  sur- 


[10] 


TrMoirarM.  Cooler 


^^ — 


C  t~~3ro  over 


face  and  were  placed  for  the  day  in  the  workshops.  Here, 
in  addition  to  the  shackles,  many  of  the  prisoners  were 
chained  to  their  anvils  or  to  rings  in  the  walls  or  ceiling  of 
the  shop.  The  principal  industry  in  the  prison  at  this  time 
was  the  making  of  nails.  Each  one  had  to  be  separately 
hammered  out  on  the  anvil  by  hand  lahor.  Each  prisoner 
was  obliged  to  make  a  certain  number  per  day,  the  number 
varying  with  the  size  of  the  nails.  Newgate  bore  the  repu- 
tation of  being  a  place  that  was  dreaded  by  even  the  most 
hardened  criminal. 

Much  of  the  information  regarding  Richard  Brunton 
was  gleaned  by  the  writer  in  1903  from  the  lips  of  James 
B.  Rose  of  West  Suffield,  then  eighty-seven  years  of  age, 
grandson  of  the  Gad  Rose  already  mentioned.  Gad  Rose 
died  in  1837  when  this  grandson  was  twenty-one  years  of 
age;  so  that  his  information  was  received  direct  from  one 
with  whom  Brunton  had  lived.  In  this  family  the  story  of 
"  old  Brunton  "  has  been  handed  down.  Mr.  Rose  re- 
members that  in  his  younger  days  there  were  about  fifteen 
of  Brunton's  engraved  metal  plates  lying  about  the  house 
and  outbuildings  at  his  and  his  grandfather's  home.  1  he 
largest  that  he  recalls  was  about  one  foot  square  and  bore 
a  cut  of  the  arms  of  Great  Britain.  It  is  perhaps  from 
this  fact  that  the  belief  has  grown  up  in  his  mind  that 
Brunton  was  an  Englishman.  But,  alas,  these  fifteen 
plates  have  gone  the  way  of  all  the  world, — perhaps  b) 
the  tin  peddler's  route,  in  exchange  for  shiny  tin  pans. 
But  one  has  escaped,  the  "  Rose"  book-plate,  and  this  has 
recently  passed  out  of  the  possession  of    the  family. 

Mr.  I).  McN.  Stauffer  of  New  York  and  Mr.  Clarence 
S.  Brigham  of  Providence,  R.  I.,  have  each  called  the 
writer's  attention  to  tin-  l>  American  Journal  and  Daily 
Advertiser,"   printed   in    Providence,   where  in  January, 

1781,    Richard   Brunton   advertises  as  an   "Engraver  and 


[n] 


dye-sinker."  This  is  the  earliest  mention  of  him  that  has 
been  found. 

Brunton  appears  to  have  had  five  centers  of  work, 
doubtless  indicative  of  as  many  residences.  Their  prob- 
able order  of  time  is,  first,  Providence,  R.  I.,  then  coming 
into  Connecticut,  second,  Norwich,  third,  the  southwest 
part  of  the  state,  Stratford  and  vicinity,  fourth,  the  north- 
ern central  part  of  the  state,  Suffield,  Hartford,  and 
vicinity,  fifth,  the  town  of  Andover,  Mass.,  where  he  may 
have  gone  after  his  release  from  Newgate  in  1801. 

The  name  Brunton  is  not  uncommon  in  England,  but 
is  rarely  found  in  the  United  States.  There  are  families 
of  the  name  in  Boston  and  Springfield,  Mass.,  Springfield, 
Ohio,  and  Denver,  Col.,  but  from  none  of  these  can  any  in- 
formation of  the  engraver  be  had,  and  most  of  them  are 
of  recent  English  origin. 

His  name  appears  on  but  two  examples  of  his  work, 
the  Nickelson  family  record-plate,  which  is  signed  "  R. 
Brunton  Sculp.,"  and  the  portrait  of  Washington  which  is 
signed  "  Brunton  Sculp1 " ;  his  initials,  "  R.  B.,"  appear  on 
the  Major  Reuben  Humphreys  plate;  and  the  "Rose" 
book-plate  we  know  on  the  authority  of  James  B.  Rose  was 
engraved  by  him.  These  three  examples  bear  such  strongly 
defined  characteristics  that  other  engravings  can  by  com- 
parison with  them  be  identified  as  Brunton's  work  with 
hardly  a  shadow  of  doubt. 

The  strongest  marked  characteristic  in  his  engraving 
is  the  crossed  or  "hatched"  lines  which  are  found  on 
nearly  all  of  the  examples  to  be  described.  The  spaces 
formed  by  the  crossing  lines  are  usually  of  an  upright 
lozenge  form,  with  in  a  number  of  instances  a  dot  in  the 
center  of  each  lozenge,  and  often  with  a  background  of 
closely  drawn  horizontal  lines.  The  one  occurring  next  in 
frequency  is  the  scroll  or  "  shell  "  work  which  appears  on 


[12] 


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a  majority  of  his  engravings  and  is  oftenest  found  in  the 
book-plates  at  the  sides  of  the  shield,  forming  a  part  of  the 
mantling.  The  style  of  his  lettering,  particularly  upon 
the  motto  ribbon  of  the  book-plates,  is  almost  always  the 
same,  a  small  square  open  letter;  and  it  is  noticeable  that 
on  about  one-third  of  the  book-plates  the  owner's  name  is 
engraved  on  the  motto  ribbon.  The  birds  which  appear 
on  some  fifteen  of  the  engravings  have,  with  one  or  two 
exceptions,  a  strikingly  similar  appearance.  Seven  plates 
bear  a  lion  rampant,  each  very  like  its  fellows.  The 
horses,  dogs,  unicorn,  and  catamounts  all  have  peculiar 
round,  barrel  shaped  bodies.  The  twigs  or  vines  with 
their  leaves  and  small  flowers  found  on  a  number  of  the 
engravings  are  all  of  the  same  shape  and  appearance. 
Other  noticeable  points  of  interest  for  comparison  are  the 
shapes  of  the  various  shields,  the  helmet  above  the  shields, 
the  open  book,  the  unicorn  and  mortar,  the  towers,  the 
mailed  arm  displayed  as  a  crest,  the  shells,  the  convention- 
alized fleur  de  lys.  A  careful  noting  of  these  points  and 
study  of  the  accompanying  reproductions  cannot  fail  to 
convince  one  that  they  are  all  the  work  of  the  same  artist. 

The  heraldry  displayed  on  the  coats  of  arms  is  original 
and  novel  in  design  and  would  scarcely  prove  acceptable  to 
that  dignified  and  precise  English  body  known  as  the  Her- 
ald's College.  The  engraver  of  them  was  evidently  en- 
tirely unfamiliar  with  the  marshaling  ol  arms,  and  as 
drawn  by  him  they  would  be  impossible  ot  blazonry. 
Probably  he  did  not  understand  the  significance  ol  the 
bend  sinister  which  he  uses  in  one  plate.  In  only  two 
instances  are  the  arms  as  engraved  by  him  to  be  found  in 
Burke's  Encyclopedia  of  Heraldry;  and  it  is  not  certain 
that  any  of  the  arms  were  previously  used  by  the  persons  or 
families  to  whom  lie  lias  assigned  them. 

As  nearly   all    of    the   engravings   are    reproduced    by 

photographic  hall   tone  process  it    has  not  seemed  neces- 

[«3] 


sary  to  give  a  close  description  of  each  in  the  individual 
reference  to  that  engraving. 

A  considerable  proportion  of  the  metal  plates  en- 
graved by  Brunton  for  printing  still  exist;  and  it  is  notice- 
able that  such  of  these  as  the  writer  has  seen  or  secured  de- 
scriptions of,  as  well  as  the  Nickelson  plate,  are  all  en- 
graved upon  brass.  Rolled  sheet  metal  was  doubtless  not 
easy  to  be  obtained  at  that  period  and  probably  the  brass 
that  he  used  was  such  as  was  used  at  the  time  in  making 
clock  faces ;  perhaps  the  new  metal  before  it  had  been  used, 
or  possibly  the  old  faces  from  disused  clocks.  The  ap- 
parent intimacy  between  Brunton  and  Jacob  Sargeant  may 
thus  be  accounted  for,  Brunton  needing  the  metal  he 
could  obtain  from  the  clockmaker,  and  Sargeant  needing 
the  engraver's  work  on  his  spoons  and  watches. 

The  owner  of  the  John  Allen  book-plate  was  born 
in  Great  Barrington,  Mass.,  in  1763.  He  removed  to 
Litchfield,  Conn.,  where  he  read  law  with  Judge  Tapping 
Reeve,  and  where  he  began  its  practice  about  1785.  He 
represented  his  town  in  the  General  Assembly  from  1793 
to  1796,  was  Representative  in  Congress  from  1797  to 
1799,  and  for  the  next  six  years  was  an  Assistant  in  the 
Connecticut  Legislature  and  so  a  member  of  the  state's 
Supreme  Court.  He  died  in  Litchfield  in  18 12.  It  is 
said  that  he  was  about  six  feet  six  inches  tall  and  weighed 
nearly  three  hundred  pounds.  His  only  sister  married 
Elizur  Goodrich  of  New  Haven,  who  was  also  a  Repre- 
sentative in  Congress  from  Connecticut.  In  the  library 
of  the  Connecticut  Historical  Society  is  a  volume  contain- 
ing this  plate  and  containing  also  the  autographs  of  John 
Allen  and  of  his  brother-in-law  "  E.  Goodrich."  The 
book  is  Thomas  Lloyd's  Congressional  Register,  volume 
3,  printed  at  New  York  in  1790. 

In  a  work  on  book-plates  printed  a  few  years  since  it 
is  stated  that  "  this  is  believed  to  be  the  plate  used  by  John 

[14] 


Lap  ra^^E  ? 


Allen  an  early  bookseller  of  Boston  "  ;  and  a  well  known 
collector  and  authority  on  book-plates  has  recently  stated 
with  much  positiveness  that  this  plate  belonged  to  a 
brother  of  Gen.  Ethan  Allen.  The  volume  above  de- 
scribed would  seem  to  show  that  both  of  these  identifica- 
tions are  incorrect. 

The  Elijah  Backus  who  is  believed  to  have  been  the 
owner  of  the  book-plate  of  that  name  was  born  in  Nor- 
wich, Conn.,  May  2,  1759,  the  son  of  Capt.  Elijah  and 
Lucy  (Griswold)  Backus.  He  was  graduated  from  Yale 
College  in  1777  and  settled  in  New  London,  where  he  was 
Naval  Officer  of  the  port  from  1785  to  1789.  His 
diary  for  1777  while  at  College  is  printed  in  the  Connecti- 
cut Quarterly  for  October,  1895.  Near  the  end  of  the 
century  he  removed  to  what  was  then  "  the  west  "  and  be- 
came the  owner  and  probably  the  occupant  of  an  island  in 
the  Ohio  river.  In  1798  he  sold  a  part  of  the  island  to 
Harman  Blennerhassett  whose  name  it  has  since  retained, 
and  through  whom  and  his  connection  with  Aaron  Burr  it 
soon  became  famous.  Backus  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
Connecticut  in  1800  and  removed  the  same  year  to  Mari- 
etta, Ohio,  where  he  engaged  in  practice,  was  Receiver  of 
Public  Moneys  of  the  United  States  and  established  and 
edited  a  newspaper.  In  1803  he  was  a  member  of  the 
State  Senate.  He  removed  in  1808  to  Kaskaskia,  111., 
where  he  was  Land-Commissioner  and  where  he  died  in 
181  1.  He  was  twice  married,  first  to  Lucretia  (Hub- 
bard) Tracy  and  second  to  Hannah  Richards,  both  of 
New  London,  ami  was  the  father  of  three  children. 

The  "copper"  (or  brass)  of  this  plate  appears  to 
have  been  in  existence  ;is  late  as  [889,  as  a  reprint  ol  the 
plate  appears  in  the  Genealogical  Memoir  ot  the  Backus 
Family  published  that  year  by  William  \Y.  Backus  ol  Nor- 
wich.       After    Mr.    Backus'    death   a    tew    years    later   his 


[■5] 


effects  were  sold  at  auction  and  the  writer  has  been  unable 
to  discover  the  plate.  It  may  not  have  belonged  to  Mr. 
Backus  at  the  time  of  its  use  by  him.  An  original  impres- 
sion of  this  plate  marked  No.  14  is  in  the  collection  of  Mr. 
William  E.  Baillie. 

A  few  years  since  a  dealer  purchased  from  a  grand- 
daughter, then  nearly  ninety  years  of  age,  several  original 
impressions  of  the  Abijah  Brooks  book-plate.  She 
stated  that  the  plate  was  made  for  her  grandfather  when 
he  was  a  young  man,  perhaps  around  1780;  that  the  metal 
plate  was  used  as  a  plaything  by  the  children  and  was 
battered  and  lost  many  years  ago,  probably  before  its 
owner's  death.  The  only  impression  seen  is  in  the  collec- 
tion of  Mr.  William  E.  Baillie  of  Bridgeport,  who  secured 
it  from  the  dealer. 

The  owner  of  the  plate  was  a  resident  of  Stratford, 
Conn.,  where  he  was  born  April  29,  1752,  the  son  of  John 
and  Ann  (Sherwood)  Brooks.  He  married  December 
19,  1778,  Sarah  Salina  Wetmore,  who  was  the  mother  of 
his  four  children,  and  who  died  in  18 13.  Six  years  later 
he  married  Elizabeth  Sherman,  who  died  in  1826.  He 
died  April  4,  1829. 

The  only  example  known  of  the  plate  of  Israel  But- 
ler is  one  in  a  copy  of  the  Acts  and  Laws  of  the  State 
of  Connecticut  printed  in  1784  and  purchased  by  the 
writer  a  few  years  since  from  a  dealer  in  second  hand  books 
in  Middletown,  Conn.,  who  probably  secured  it  from  the 
library  of  Jonathan  Barnes  of  that  city.  An  autograph 
written  across  the  lower  part  of  the  plate  shows  a  former 
owner  to  have  been  Elijah  Hubbard.  This  without  ques- 
tion is  the  Yale  graduate  of  that  name  of  1795  who  set- 
tled in  Middletown  as  a  lawyer  in  1808.  "  Sam1  D.  Hub- 
bard's "  autograph  appears  on  the  title  page.  He  was  a 
son  of  Elijah. 


[16] 


•■■:;,'    i 


o'V>  V    3  'J- 

;d>rc*Tsvvo£ 
^Manied    Col.   (Wigl 


^ 


^' 


k''^l 


Of  the  owner  of  the  plate  or  of  his  residence  nothing 
has  been  learned.  It  seems  probable  that  he  lived  some- 
where in  the  vicinity  of  Middletown ;  yet  Mr.  F.  F.  Starr, 
the  authority  on  Middlesex  county  families,  can  find  no 
trace  of  him,  nor  has  the  writer  been  able  to  find  mention  of 
an]  person  of  that  name. 

There  seems  a  reasonable  probability  for  believing 
that  JOHN  SAMUEL  Cannon  of  Stratford,  now  Bridge- 
port, was  the  possessor  of  a  book-plate  engraved  by  Brun- 
ton,  although  neither  the  engraved  plate  nor  any  printed 
copies  of  such  an  one  are  known  to  collectors.  Philip 
Cannon,  the  son  of  John  S.,  possessed  a  plate  which,  while 
it  is  better  engraved  and  more  modern  in  appearance,  is 
exactly  in  the  style  of  Brunton's  work.  In  the  size  and 
shape  of  the  shield,  the  arrangement  of  the  scroll  and  shell 
work  and  the  hatched  lines  on  either  side  it  resembles  many 
of  the  plates  engraved  by  Brunton.  The  shield  bears  a 
cannon  mounted  on  wheels  and  pointed  outward.  This 
plate  is  signed  bv  Kenset.  An  example  of  it  is  in  the  col- 
lection of  Mr.  William  E.  Baillie.  It  seems  probable 
from  its  style  that  it  was  engraved  to  copy  an  older  plate 
bv  Brunton.  The  probability  of  there  having  been  an 
older  plate  is  increased  by  the  fact  that  Hannah  Nichols, 
the  wife  of  John  S.  Cannon,  was  sister  of  Lucy  the  wife 
of  Rev.  Philo  Shelton,  for  whom  Brunton  engraved  a 
book-plate;  also  that  Cannon  had  business  associations 
with  John  Brooks,  probably  a  nephew  of  the  Abijah 
Brooks  for  whom  Brunton  engraved. 

John  S.  Cannon  belonged  to  the  Norwalk  line  of  the 
family  and  came  from  that  town  about  1790  to  Bridgeport 
where  he  was  a  merchant  of  sonic  wealth.  Lambert  Fock- 
wood  was  associated  in  business  with  him.  1  he  two  built 
a  wharf  and  stoic  about  [792  and  conducted  a  general 
trade  in  dry  goods  and  groceries.        I  hc\  also  ran  a  regular 


[17] 


packet  vessel    to   New   York.      Cannon    owned    another 
wharf  and  store  which  he  rented. 

The  Harry  Case  plate  is  the  largest  and  most  elabo- 
rate of  any  of  the  book-plates  engraved  by  Brunton,  and 
the  workmanship  is  better  than  in  the  majority  of  his 
plates.  A  peculiarity  which  the  writer  has  seen  on  no 
other  book-plate  is  the  blazoning  of  the  arms  on  the  plate. 
No  impressions  from  this  plate  are  known  to  the  writer. 
The  metal  plate  is  now  owned  by  Mr.  Carl  Theodore  Case 
of  Nashville,  Tenn.  The  family  state  that  "  it  is  an  heir- 
loom and  has  been  passed  down  from  generation  to  genera- 
tion; the  eldest  son  of  each  generation  falling  heir  to  it." 
Dr.  Erastus  E.  Case,  the  genealogist  of  the  family,  states 
that  the  great-grandfather  of  the  present  owner  of  the 
plate  was  Henry  Case  who  was  born  in  Canton,  Conn., 
June  28,  1778,  and  emigrated  to  New  York  state  and 
thence  to  Ohio.  There  can  be  little  doubt  but  that  this 
Henry  was  the  original  owner  of  the  plate,  the  name 
Harry  being  used  as  a  familiar  diminutive  for  Henry. 

Dr.  Samuel  Cooley,  son  of  William  and  Elizabeth 
Cooley,  was  born  in  Bolton,  Conn.,  Jan.  21,  1755.  He 
married  Aurelia  Abbot.  After  studying  with  Dr.  Icha- 
bod  Warner  and  practicing  for  some  twenty  years  in  Bol- 
ton, he  removed  to  Northampton,  Portage  county,  Ohio, 
where  he  practiced,  and  where  he  died  Nov.  12,  18 14.  So 
says  his  biography  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  Connecticut 
Medical  Society,  but  there  is  no  Northampton  in  Portage 
county.  There  is  a  North  Hampton  village  in  Pike  town- 
ship, Clark  county,  Ohio.  The  whole  region  comprising 
the  Connecticut  Western  Reserve  in  northern  Ohio  was 
settled  by  Connecticut  people  about  1800,  and  he  was 
doubtless  one  of  the  pioneers  who  removed  about  that 
time. 

He  was  considered  a  skillful  physician  and  surgeon. 


[18] 


He   may   have  studied   at   Harvard,   but   the  statement 

printed  some  years  ago  that  he  was  graduated  there  is  cer- 
tainly an  error.  "  Cooley's  Pills"  which  were  celebrated 
tor  many  years  were  originated  by  him,  and  were  later 
successfully  prepared  by  his  son,  Dr.  A.  A.  Cooley.  lie 
was  a  surgeon  in  the  United  States  Army  during  the  early 
part  of  the  War  of  1 8  i  2.  Tradition  says  that  the  reason 
Dr.  Cooley  gave  why  he  did  not  haye  as  much  business  as 
Dr.  Warner  had  was  that  Dr.  Warner  had  the  best  "  How 
do  you  do." 

He  had  live  sons  and  one  daughter,  among  whom  were 
two  physicians.  Dr.  William  Cooley  studied  with  his 
father  and  practiced  in  Manchester  principally.  Dr. 
Abial  Abbot  Cooley  also  studied  medicine  with  his  father 
in  Bolton,  but  never  practiced.  He  removed  to  Hartford 
where  for  about  forty  years  he  kept  a  drug  store  and  where 
he  died  in  1858  at  the  age  of  seventy-six.  Colonel  Samuel 
Abbot  Cooley,  son  of  Dr.  A.  A.,  was  for  many  years  a  resi- 
dent of  Hartford.  In  1896  he  presented  to  the  Connecti- 
cut Historical  Society  a  volume  in  which  was  pasted  a  label 
bearing  wood  cut  representations  of  the  Charter  Oak  tree 
and  of  the  book-plate  of  "  Sam1  Cooley."  The  volume 
had  been  presented  to  Colonel  Cooley  by  I.  W.  Stuart,  who 
owned  the  property  where  the  Charter  Oak  stood  in  1856, 
the  year  of  the  tree's  fall,  which  may  account  for  the  use  of 
the  cut  of  the  tree  with  the  plate.  In  1902,  which  was  not 
long  after  the  death  of  Col.  Cooley,  a  Hartford  book- 
dealer  is  said  to  have  offered  for  sale  an  old  impression  of 
this  book-plate  printed  from  a  metal  plate.  The  wood  cut 
representation  of  the  plate  is  probably  a  comparatively  re- 
cent engraving  after  the  earlier  metal. 

The  Forward  plate  may  be  called  a  family  plate,  as  it 

bears  only  the  surname  and  so  cannot  be  positively  identi- 
fied as  belonging  to  any  particular  person.       It  is  believed 


[19] 


by  the  present  members  of  the  family  to  have  been  en- 
graved for  Justus  Forward,  "esquire  Justus"  as  he  was 
called,  a  resident  of  Belchertown,  Mass.,  where  he  was 
born  Feb.  23,  1774.  But  it  seems  to  the  writer  more 
probable  that  the  plate  was  engraved  for  his  father,  Rev. 
Justus  Forward,  the  second  pastor  of  the  Congregational 
church  in  Belchertown,  where  he  ministered  from  1755 
until  his  death,  March  8,  18  14.  Justus  was  born  May  1 1, 
1730,*  in  Suffield,  Conn.,  the  eldest  child  of  Joseph  and 
Mary  Forward.  His  parents  removed  soon  after  to  that 
part  of  Simsbury,  which  is  now  East  Granby,  Conn.,  where 
his  father  was  a  tanner,  saddler,  and  farmer.  He  entered 
Yale  College  and  was  graduated  in  1754,  then  taught 
school  and  studied  theology  in  Hatfield,  Mass.,  and  was 
licensed  to  preach  in  1755.  Belchertown  was  his  only  pas- 
torate. His  preaching  is  described  as  clear  and  simple,  his 
theology  as  of  the  strict  orthodox  New  England  type. 
During  the  Revolution  he  was  a  thorough  patriot.  His 
wife,  Violet  Dickinson,  survived  him  for  twenty  years, 
dying  at  the  age  of  ninety-six.  Of  his  eleven  children, 
only  Justus  and  a  daughter  survived  him.  He  published 
one  sermon,  which  was  printed  at  Hartford  in  177  1,  and 
other  sermons  by  him  are  found  in  a  volume  of  sermons 
printed  in  Northampton,  Mass.,  in  1799.  A  journal  kept 
by  him  in  1767  is  in  the  library  of  Harvard  College,  and 
one  for  1808  is  preserved  by  his  descendants. 

Parson  Forward's  old  home  in  Simsbury  was  almost 
midway  between  Mr.  Rose's  house  and  Newgate  prison, 
less  than  three  miles  from  either,  and  what  more  likely 
than  that  he  should  have  had  this  plate  engraved  some 
time  when  visiting  his  boyhood  home.  The  brass  plate 
has  descended  in  the  family  and  is  now  in  the  possession  of 
the   parson's    great-great-grandson,    Francis    Forward   of 


*  Family  record  says  born  in  Suffield,  Conn.,  May  4,  1732. 

[20] 


I    \  RRAB]   I     WATCH 


LARRABEE  WATCH. 


Belchertown,  Mass.  Four  impressions  from  the  plate  have 
come  to  the  writer's  notice.  All  arc  printed  on  a  very 
smooth  surfaced  paper;  two  on  paper  of  a  light  yellow 
color,  one  on  a  dark  green,  and  one  on  a  dull  brick-red. 
Three  of  the  four  are  loose  and  have  never  been  in  a  book. 
One  is  in  a  Bible  that  has  descended  in  the  family  to  John 
F.  Forward,  Esq.,  of  Hartford,  and  may  have  belonged  to 
the  parson,  as  it  was  printed  in  1766.  The  volume  is  not 
in  its  original  binding  but  was  rebound  many  years  ago. 
The  other  three  with  the  original  brass  are  wrapped  in 
a  paper  bearing  the  business  card  of  a  firm  of  Boston  en- 
gravers and  plate  printers.  This  paper  is  probably  about 
eighty  years  old.  From  the  fact  of  the  brass  and  the  three 
impressions  being  wrapped  together  in  this  paper,  it  may 
be  presumed  that  the  younger  Justus  soon  after  1820  sent 
the  plate  to  Boston  and  had  some  impressions  struck  off  on 
the  colored  papers.  A  few  impressions  were  printed  on 
white  paper  in  1905  for  the  owner  of  the  brass. 

It  is  believed  by  the  family  that  the  design  of  the 
arms  appearing  on  the  plate  was  taken  from  an  old  seal 
in  the  family's  possession. 

The  book-plate  of  FREDERICK  Fkyk,  ANDOVER,  is  that 
of  a  Massachusetts  man  who  comes  of  fighting  stock. 
The  records  of  the  family,  who  have  been  residents  of  An- 
dover  since  1645,  show  numerous  soldiers  and  military 
officers.  This  Frederick,  born  June  9,  1760,  was  the  son 
of  Col.  James  Frye,  a  hero  of  Bunker  Hill,  and  his  wile, 
Elizabeth  (Osgood),  who  may  have  been  a  relative  oi  the 
Peter  Osgood  who  will  be  mentioned  later.  Frederick 
served  in  the  Massachusetts  troops  during  the  Revolution, 
engaging  himself  Jan.  24,  17S1,  tor  three  years.  The 
original  metal  of  this  plate  still  exists,  and  in  [896  SIX 
impressions  were  taken  from  it.  This  reproduction  is 
from  one  of  the  six  now  in  the  collection  of  Mr.  William 
E.  Baillie. 

[21] 


The  two  metal  ornaments  marked  respectively  L.  Gay 
and  L.  G.  are  supposed  to  have  both  belonged  to  Lucina 
Gay,  the  date  of  whose  birth  is  correctly  given  on  the  larger 
one.  It  is,  however,  quite  possible  that  the  smaller, 
marked  L.  G.,  may  have  belonged  to  her  younger  sister 
Lydia,  born  Sept.  4,  1790.  Both  are  now  the  property  of 
Miss  Lilian  Gay,  the  granddaughter  of  Apollos  Gay. 
Lucina,  Apollos,  and  Lydia  were  children  of  Richard  and 
Lucina  (Granger)  Gay  of  Granby,  now  East  Granby, 
Conn.  His  home  was  scarcely  three  miles  by  direct  road 
from  the  home  of  Gad  Rose,  where  Brunton  resided  in 
West  Suffield,  and  as  the  crow  flies  but  little  more  than  a 
mile  from  Newgate  prison.  Lucina  married  first  Rev. 
John  Younglove  of  Suffield,  who  died  in  1827.  She  mar- 
ried second  Orra  Bush  of  East  Nassau,  N.  Y.  She  died 
Sept.  20,  1850.  Lydia  married  Roswell  H.  Phelps  of 
Granby,  now  East  Granby.  She  died  October  27,  1826. 
The  two  ornaments  are  engraved  on  silver,  probably  silver 
coins  rubbed  smooth  and  shaped  for  the  purpose.  The 
hatched  lines  and  shell  work,  so  distinctive  of  Brunton's 
work,  are  wanting  in  these  two  ornaments ;  but  scarcely 
less  distinctive  are  the  forms  of  the  letters,  the  birds  and 
the  flowers  and  sprigs  which  they  bear. 

The  plate  of  Timothy  Hall  belonged  to  the  physi- 
cian of  that  name  living  in  East  Hartford,  Conn. 

He  was  born  probably  in  Hartford,  now  East  Hart- 
ford, June  4,  1758,  the  son  of  Timothy  and  Alice  (Smith) 
Hall.  He  served  as  a  Surgeon  in  the  army  during  the 
Revolution,  and  witnessed  the  execution  of  Major  Andre. 
After  the  war  he  was  Surgeon  of  the  nineteenth  regiment 
of  militia.  He  settled  in  the  parish  of  Hockanum  and 
there  resided  until  his  death  Aug.  6,  1844,  "  beloved  and 
esteemed  by  all  who  knew  him."  At  the  beginning  of  his 
practice  he  had  no  horse  and  visited  his  patients  on  foot; 


[22] 


SIT      LUX    ET    LUX    TTJIT 


Inter  he  owned  a  chaise.  Soon  after  the  town  of  East 
Hartford  was  set  off  from  Hartford  in  1783,  Dr.  Hall 
and  Dr.  Samuel  Flagg  petitioned  to  be  allowed  "  to  set  up 
inoculation  for  the  small-pox,"  but  were  refused.  But  in 
1  79  1  they  were  given  liberty  "  to  set  up  ami  carry  on  inocu- 
lation for  the  small-pox  in  this  town  during  the  term  of 
time  the  civil  authority  and  selectmen  shall  judge  it  consis- 
tent with  the  welfare  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  town :  the 
petitioners  allowing  the  town  the  benefit  of  the  said  hos- 
pital, gratis,  for  the  poor  of  the  town  that  may  have  taken 
the  small-pox  the  natural  way."  He  was  prominent  in 
the  proceedings  of  the  Connecticut  Medical  Society,  was 
its  treasurer  and  vice-president  and  received  its  honorary 
degree  of  M.D.  in  18 12.  His  first  wife  was  Eunice, 
daughter  of  Nathaniel  Hills,  after  whose  death  in  1797  ne 
married  Mary,  daughter  of  Dea.  John  Goodwin.  Of 
his  four  children,  Samuel  the  eldest,  born  in  1785,  fol- 
lowed the  profession  of  his  father  in  his  native  town. 

The  accompanying  reproduction  of  Timothy  Hall's 
book-plate  is  from  an  original  in  the  collection  of  Dr. 
Henry  C.  Eno  of  New  York  city. 

Reuben  Humphreys,  the  son  of  Oliver,  was  bom  in 

West  Simsbury,  now  Canton,  Conn.,  Sept.  2,  1757.  He 
served  as  a  private  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution  and  was 
in  the  battle  of  Long  Island.  Later  he  was  successively 
Captain,  Major,  and  Brigade  Major  and  Inspector  of  the 
First  Division  in  the  State  Militia.  As  he  was  about  to 
emigrate  to  New  York  state  he  was  appointed  Superintend- 
ent of  Newgate  Prison  in  Simsbury,  now  bast  (iranln,  .1 
position  he  held  for  five  years  about  [796-1801.  During 
this  period  in  1800,  his  port  rait  and  that  o  I  his  wile  "  were 
painted  by  a  convict  in  the  old  Simshurv  prison"  and  are 

still  extant.  Alter  finishing  his  term  as  Superintendent  ol 
the  prison  he  removed  to  Onondaga  county,  N.  ^  .     In 


I  23  I 


1804  he  was  appointed  the  first  judge  of  the  county  and 
held  the  position  until  his  election  as  Representative  in 
Congress  in  1807.  After  serving  one  term  he  declined  a 
re-election.  Later  he  was  a  member  of  the  Senate  of  the 
State  of  New  York  from  18  n  to  18 15.  He  died  at  Mar- 
cellus,  N.  Y.,  Aug.  11,  1832.  Almost  his  whole  life  had 
been  spent  in  public  service  and  in  positions  of  trust  and 
influence. 

The  Humphreys  Family  genealogy,  from  which  the 
above  is  taken,  reprints  from  the  original  copper  the  plate 
bearing  Maj.  Humphreys'  portrait  and  arms  which  col- 
lectors assume  to  have  been  used  by  him  as  a  book-plate. 
The  then  (1884)  ownership  of  this  copper  is  not  clearly 
disclosed,  but  apparently  it  was,  like  his  portrait,  in  the 
possession  of  Mrs.  Peter  L.  Perine  of  Omaha,  Neb., 
whose  mother  was  a  Humphreys  of  Marcellus,  N.  Y. 
The  following  note  appears  concerning  the  plate: 

"We  give  the  original  copper  plate  engraving  sur- 
mounted by  the  picture  of  the  Judge.  It  is  the  more  re- 
markable from  having  been  engraved  by  one  Mr.  Stiles 
who  was  a  convict  in  the  Newgate  prison.  It  is  engraved 
upon  copper  taken  from  the  pit  over  which  the  prison  was 
built,  and  is  probably  one  of  the  earliest  efforts  of  the 
kind  in  this  country." 

The  note  also  apparently  intends  to  say,  although  it 
does  not  actually  make  the  statement,  that  the  plate  was 
engraved  in  1800.  In  spite  of  the  statement  that  it  was 
engraved  by  "  one  Mr.  Stiles  "  it  bears  Brunton's  initials, 
R.  B.,  in  a  lower  corner  —  sufficient  proof  that  he  was  its 
engraver.  No  original  impression  from  this  plate  is  known 
to  exist. 

A  most  interesting  series  of  three  silver  ornaments 
engraved  for  one  family  are  those  bearing  the  names  of 
Mrs.  Jonathan  Humphreys  and  her  daughters  Laura  and 
Nancy.    The  one  belonging  to  Mrs.  Humphreys,  nee  Miss 

M 


S.  Wl.WI  (.THE 


Nab  by 


%,  C  MoowJ 
bonr  March 


Lydia  Griswold  Phelps,  is  the  largest  and  most  elab- 
orately engraved  of  the  three.  Around  the  edge  on  either 
side  is  engraved  a  verse,  the  sixteenth  and  twenty-third, 
from  the  last  chapter  of  Proverbs;  but  curiously  neither 
of  the  verses  is  that  of  the  birth-date  of  herself,  her  hus- 
band, or  either  of  her  three  daughters.  She  was  born  in 
Simsbury,  Conn.,  and  lived  in  that  town  until  her  death, 
July  26,  1828.  Jonathan  Humphreys,  whose  second  wife 
she  was,  was  a  merchant  and  a  man  of  influence  in  Sims- 
bury.  He  served  in  the  Revolution  during  the  early  part 
of  the  war.  In  1777  he  was  commissioned  Ensign  of  a 
company  in  the  eighteenth  regiment  of  militia,  of  which 
his  father  Jonathan  was  then  Colonel,  and  he  rose  to  be,  in 
1794,  Lieutenant-Colonel-Commanding  of  the  regiment. 
He  was  own  cousin  to  Maj.  Reuben  Humphreys,  for  whom 
Brunton  also  engraved.  Their  second  daughter  Laura 
Griswold  Humphreys  married  Jan.  12,  18  13,  Richard 
Bacon  of  Simsbury.  She  died  in  that  town  Nov.  18,  1859. 
The  youngest  daughter  Nancy  Humphreys  died  unmar- 
ried in  Simsbury  Jan.  7,  1822. 

These  three  ornaments  are  now  the  property  of  Mrs. 
Chauncey  E.  Eno  of  Simsbury,  a  grand-daughter  of  Laura 
I  lumphreys  Bacon. 

It  would  appear  that  Solomon  Ingraham,  of  Nor- 
wich, Conn.,  was  the  possessor  of  a  book-plate  engraved 
by  Brunton.  A  small  book  by  G.  R.  Gladding,  entitled, 
Information  Respecting  the  Great  Ingraham  Estate" 
published  at  Providence,  R.  I.,  in  1859,  has  for  frontis- 
piece a  portrait  of  "  Captain  Solomon  Ingraham. "  Facing 
this  portrait  is  a  small  wood  cut  bearing  the  captain's  name 
and  a  coat  of  arms  which  could  have  had  no  other  use  ex- 
cept as  a  book-plate.  As  it  appears  in  this  book,  it  is,  of 
course,  rc-cngraved  from  some  earlier  source,  probably 
from  an  engraved  book-plate. 


I -'5  I 


Various  peculiarities,  the  square  lettering,  the  placing 
of  the  owner's  name  on  the  motto  ribbon  below  the  shield, 
the  oval  form  of  the  shield,  are  all  characteristic  of  Brun- 
ton's  work  and  style.  While  the  two  supporting  animals, 
which  would  hardly  be  found  in  English  heraldry,  recall 
the  two  upon  the  Tyler  plate,  the  arms  —  the  shield  and 
crest  —  which  appear  here  are  identical  with  the  Ingraham 
arms  recognized  in  England. 

Solomon  Ingraham,  born  about  1765,  was  a  resident 
of  Norwich.  There  he  married  Elizabeth  Perkins  in 
1798.  The  same  year  he  sailed  from  New  London  for  the 
East  Indies  in  command  of  the  ship  Pacific;  perhaps  the 
first  to  make  the  voyage  from  that  port.  In  March  of  the 
following  year,  soon  after  sailing  from  Calcutta  on  the 
homeward  voyage,  the  ship  was  captured  by  a  French 
privateer  and  a  little  later  was  again  captured  by  a  British 
man-of-war,  which  seized  the  cargo  and  burned  the  vessel. 
Capt.  Ingraham  met  further  disaster  by  being  shipwrecked 
on  Cape  Cod  before  reaching  home.  He  made  one  or  two 
subsequent  voyages  to  the  East  Indies  and  died  at  Madras, 
August  15,  1805,  in  the  fortieth  year  of  his  age,  leaving 
no  children. 

An  interesting  episode  in  Capt.  Ingraham's  life  was  his 
trip  to  England  in  1803,  in  quest  of  proof  of  his  right  by 
inheritance  to  "the  great  Ingraham  estate,"  upon  which  a 
portion  of  the  city  of  Leeds  had  been  built,  and  which  was 
even  then  estimated  to  be  worth  many  millions.  The  es- 
tate, it  was  claimed,  had  belonged  to  the  father  of  Capt. 
Ingraham's  great-great-grandmother,  an  early  resident  of 
Boston.  Two  old  documents  in  his  possession,  a  will  and 
a  deed,  both  written  on  parchment,  formed  the  basis  for 
the  claim;  and  the  trip  was  undertaken  on  the  advice  of 
an  attorney.  It  is  sufficient  to  add  that  notwithstanding 
two  subsequent  efforts  the  American  heirs  have  not  to  this 
time  come  into  possession  of  the  property. 

[26] 


DETAIL  FROM  THK  NEWGATE  PLATE. 


A  volume  of  poems  by  Richard  Savage  printed  in  1805 
and  recently  picked  up  by  the  writer  in  a  second  hand  book 
store  in  New  Haven,  contains  the  plate  of  Jonathan 
Knight.  It  also  contains  the  autograph  of  "Jonathan 
Knight  New  Haven  Conn.  June  5th  1807."  This  is, 
of  course,  Jonathan  Junior,  who  was  at  that  time  a  student 
in  Yale  College,  and  at  once  brings  up  the  question  whether 
the  plate  should  be  credited  to  him  or  to  his  father  of  the 
same  name,  to  whom  it  is  assigned  by  Mr.  Allen.  It  seems 
most  likely  that  the  plate  belonged  to  the  senior  Jonathan, 
although  in  this  instance  it  was  used  by  his  son. 

Jonathan  Knight,  Senior,  was  born  at  Norwich,  Conn.. 
Jan.  10,  1758.  He  served  in  the  Continental  army  during 
the  Revolution,  being  commissioned  as  Surgeon's  Mate  of 
the  Fourth  regiment  "Connecticut  Line,"  Feb.  1,  1778, 
and  retired  Jan.  1,  178  1.  He  was  a  pensioner  under  the 
act  of  1818.  On  Oct.  11,  178  1,  he  married  a  daughter  of 
Dr.  Asahel  Fitch  of  Redding  and  the  same  year  removed 
to  Norwalk,  Conn.,  where  he  became  a  practicing  physi- 
cian. In  1785  he  bought  land  and  built  a  house  on  what 
is  now  Knight  street.  Here  three  children  were  born,  the 
eldest  of  whom  was  Jonathan,  born  Sept.  4,  1789.  '  Dr. 
Knight  is  described  as  "  a  skilled  medical  practitioner  who 
continued  active  in  his  work  until  his  death  in  March, 
1829." 

Jonathan  Knight,  Junior,  was  graduated  at  Yale  Col- 
lege in  1808,  and  received  its  honorary  M.D.  in  1S1S. 
Returned  to  Yale  as  a  tutor;,  was  appointed  Professor  of 
Anatomy  and  Physiology  at  the  organization  of  the  Medi- 
cal School  in  1 8 13;  was  transferred  to  the  Chair  oi 
Surgery,  and  after  twenty-five  years  in  each  professorship 
resigned  early  in  1864.  For  main  sears  he  also  lectured 
in  the  Academical  department ;  and  he  also  kept  up  an  ex- 
tensive medical  practice  in  New   I  laven.      lie  was  one  oi 


[*?] 


the  founders  of  the  American  Medical  Association,  and  its 
President  in  1853.  At  his  death,  Aug.  25,  1864,  he  was 
President  of  the  American  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Co. 
The  United  States  Government  hospital  in  New  Haven 
was  named  after  him. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  specimens  of  Brunton's 
work  is  the  design  engraved  on  the  cases  of  an  ancient 
gold  watch  now  owned  by  Mr.  Frank  Larrabee  of  Willi- 
mantic,  Conn.  The  date,  1685,  which  surmounts  the  crest 
and  coat  of  arms,  is  probably  due  to  the  family  tradition 
that  the  watch  was  brought  to  this  country  by  a  Huguenot 
minister  named  Larrabee  who  was  forced  to  flee  from 
France  and  came  to  America  at  the  time  of  the  massacre 
following  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  Oct.  16, 
1685.  The  probability  of  the  truth  of  this  tradition  is 
somewhat  weakened  by  the  fact  that  the  immigrant  ances- 
tor of  the  present  owner  of  the  watch  was  in  Connecticut 
almost  half  a  century  before  this  date. 

The  watch  came  into  the  possession  of  Frederic 
Larrabee  about  1785,  probably  from  his  father  Timothy. 
From  him  it  descended  to  his  son  Adam,  born  1787.  From 
Adam  it  descended  to  his  son  Charles,  born  1821,  and 
from  him  to  his  son  Frank,  born  1857,  the  present  owner. 

Frederic  Larrabee,  whose  initials  with  masonic  em- 
blems appear  upon  one  case  of  the  watch,  was  born  Feb. 
10,  1760,  probably  in  Windham,  Conn.  He  married 
Abigail  Allyn  in  1786.  Previous  to  his  marriage  he  was 
a  seaman,  later  he  was  a  hotel  keeper  in  Windham  and 
keeper  of  the  jail  in  that  county.  His  son  Adam,  the  elder 
of  his  two  children,  was  a  graduate  from  West  Point  and 
a  man  of  considerable  prominence  in  both  military  and 
civil  life. 

Capt.  Gideon  Leavenworth,  born  Oct.  18,  175 1, 
was  son  of  Edmund  and  Abigail  (Beardsley)  Leaven- 
worth of  the  parish  of  Ripton  in  Stratford,  now  the  town 

[28] 


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of  Huntington,  Conn.  In  early  life  he  saw  service  in  the 
Revolution  and  was  wounded  at  the  battle  of  White  Plains, 
where  he  commanded  a  company.  Twice  married,  first  to 
Sarah  Ward  and  second  to  widow  Mary  A.  (Kasson) 
Hull,  he  was  the  father  of  six  sons  and  six  daughters.  He 
was  an  active  business  man,  owner  of  a  large  farm,  a  dis- 
tillery and  a  grist  mill;  was  extensively  engaged  in  lumber- 
ing, bridge  building,  and  the  building  of  vessels  on  the 
Housatonic  river.  In  1798  he  represented  Huntington  in 
the  General  Assembly.  He  is  remembered  as  hospitable, 
liberal,  kind  hearted,  and  religious.  His  death  occurred 
April  19,  1  8  16.  No  original  impressions  of  his  book-plate 
have  come  to  the  notice  of  the  writer;  but  the  metal  plate 
still  exists,  and  the  present  reproduction  is  from  a  recent 
impression  in  the  collection  of  Mr.  William  E.  Baillie. 

The  Masonic  Plate  here  reproduced  is  from  a  re- 
print from  the  original  copper  which  appears  in  the  Hum- 
phreys Family  genealogy  issued  about  1884.  The  origi- 
nal plate  then  apparently  belonged  to  Mrs.  Peter  L. 
Perine  of  Omaha,  Neb.  Its  history  is  the  same  as  that  of 
the  Reuben  Humphreys  plate  already  described,  and  it 
doubtless  belonged  to  Maj.  Humphreys.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber and  Junior  Warden  of  Frederick  Lodge  of  masons  of 
Farmington,  and  upon  the  formation  of  Village  Lodge  of 
West  Simsbury  in  1796  he  became  a  charter  member  ami 
may  have  been  its  first  Master.  Hence  the  plate  bearing 
the  masonic  emblems.  But  the  purpose  of  the  plate  is 
conjectural.  It  is  hardly  supposable  that  the  lodge  would 
have  a  library  and  so  need  a  book-plate,  or  that  Maj. 
Humphreys  would  have  masonic  books  in  sufficient  number 
to  require  a  special  plate  for  them.  Possibly  the  plate  was 
intended  as  a  purely  ornamental  and  decorative  piece  of 
work.     No  original  impressions  of  it  are  known. 

s.wn  1.1.  Mather,  whose  portrait  is  reproduced,  the 

eldest   son   of  Samuel,  of   Northampton,    Mass.,   was  horn 

[29] 


June  10,  1737.  He  was  graduated  from  Yale  college  in 
1756,  studied  medicine  under  his  father  and  in  1759  began 
practice  in  Westfield,  Mass.,  where  he  continued  to  reside 
until  his  death,  April  27,  1808.  Grace  Mosely,  of  West- 
field  became  his  wife  in  176 1,  and  nine  children  were  born 
to  them.  Dr.  Mather  was  considered  a  very  skillful  physi- 
cian and  had  an  extensive  practice.  For  many  years  he 
was  town  clerk  and  treasurer  of  Westfield.  He  was 
chosen  representative  and  afterwards  senator,  and  he  was 
also  judge  of  the  Hampshire  County  Court.  This  latter 
office  he  held  at  the  time  of  Shay's  rebellion,  and  at  the 
time  the  insurgents  were  scattered,  he  dressed  the  wounds 
of  the  injured. 

No  original  impressions  from  this  plate  are  known, 
but  the  brass  plate  itself  is  in  the  possession  of  Mrs.  Eliza 
E.  Gaylord,  of  Westfield,  a  great-granddaughter  of  Dr. 
Mather.  Some  years  since  Mrs.  Gaylord  had  a  few  im- 
pressions taken  from  the  plate,  and  the  writer  is  indebted 
to  her  courtesy  for  the  one  from  which  the  accompanying 
reproduction  is  made.  While  no  instance  of  its  use  as  a 
book-plate  is  known,  that  was  doubtless  the  purpose  for 
which  it  was  designed. 

Another  ornament  engraved  on  a  very  thin  piece  of 
silver,  probably  a  coin  rolled  out,  bears  the  name  and  birth 
date  of  Nabby  C.  Moore.  This  little  girl  was  the  young- 
est child  of  Nahum  and  Catherine  (White)  Moore,  who 
lived  in  Windsor,  Turkey  Hills  parish,  now  the  town  of 
East  Granby,  Conn.  Their  home  was  not  above  three 
miles  from  Newgate  prison.  About  18 10  she  became  the 
second  wife  of  Roger  Filer  of  (now)  East  Granby. 
Three  children  were  born  to  them.  Roger  died  in  1846 
aged  seventy-nine,  and  Nabby  Case  died  July  28,  1864. 
The  ornament  is  now  the  property  of  Nabby's  great  grand- 
daughter, Miss  Alice  M.  Gay  of  Hartford.  The  appear- 
ance of  the  birds,  sprigs  and  flower  that  it  bears  as  well  as 

[3°] 


Mfe       •     :*         —        ■ 


the  form  of  the  letters  gives  undoubted  evidence  that  the 
engraving  is  Brunton's  work. 

The  NEWGATE  engraving  is  by  far  the  most  elaborate 
as  well  as  the  largest  specimen  of  Brunton's  work,  measur- 
ing twenty  and  one-half  inches  square.  Its  title  reads  "  A 
Prospective  View  of  old  Newgate  Connecticut's  State 
Prison."  It  shows  the  prison  yard  and  buildings  with  the 
prisoners  performing  their  various  duties;  the  whole  sur- 
rounded by  a  high  picket  fence  surmounted  by  sharp  spikes. 
Owing  to  a  total  lack  of  perspective  this  fence  appears  to 
be  lying  on  its  side  with  its  spikes  pointing  outward  instead 
of  upward.  Beneath  is  a  long  descriptive  legend.  At 
the  bottom  a  hunting  scene  is  represented,  a  deer  running,  a 
man  shooting  at  a  bird  perched  upon  the  extreme  top  of  a 
tree,  a  fox  pursued  by  two  dogs  which  in  turn  seem  to  be 
pursued  by  a  hunter.  The  scene  inside  the  yard  is  of 
greater  interest,  all  of  the  prisoners  are  shackled,  the  offi- 
cers wear  swords,  the  guards  carry  guns  and  one  of  them 
seems  to  be  hastening  a  prisoner's  steps  with  the  point  of 
his  bayonet,  a  turnkey  with  key  in  hand  is  approaching  the 
gate,  warned  perhaps  by  the  sound  of  the  bell  which  hangs 
above  the  fence  over  the  entrance,  a  prisoner  is  tied  to  a 
post  while  an  officer  applies  the  whip  to  his  naked  back.  A 
vacant  space  in  the  yard  is  filled  by  a  drawing  of  the  coat 
of  arms  and  motto  of  Connecticut  surrounded  with  an 
elaborate  mantling. 

This  engraving  was  probably  made  about  1800  while 
Brunton  was  a  convict  in  the  prison,  and  must  have  been 
made  before  1802,  at  which  time  the  picket  fence  was 
replaced  by  a  stone  wall. 

Original    impressions   of    this  plate   are   rare.      A   fine 

example  belongs  to  the   Connecticut   Historical  Society. 

On  the  back  of  it  is  written  in  ink  "  William  Wales  Donor 

to  his  Grandmother   [830.     Witness  E.  Wales."      I  wo 


examples  are  known  in  private  ownership,  one  in  Hartford, 
the  other  in  a  family  living  not  far  from  Newgate. 

About  the  year  1870  this  plate  was  found  and  sent  to 
Boston,  where  six*  or  eight**  impressions  were  taken  from 
it,  after  which  it  fell  into  the  hands  of  some  one  who  did 
not  appreciate  its  interest  and  value  and  was  cut  up  and 
used  for  other  purposes.  One  of  these  restrikes  is  in  the 
Connecticut  Historical  Society,  one  in  the  Massachusetts 
Historical  Society,  one  in  private  ownership  in  Hartford, 
one  appeared  in  the  Alfred  S.  Manson  sale  in  1904,  and 
one  was  catalogued  by  Charles  E.  Goodspeed  of  Boston  in 
1905. 

The  ruins  of  the  prison  buildings,  and  the  cavern  be- 
neath them,  still  remain  an  object  of  curious  interest  and 
attract  many  visitors  to  East  Granby. 

Angus  Nickelson,  whose  family  record  is  repro- 
duced, was  an  energetic  business  man  of  New  Milford, 
Conn.  He  was  the  owner  of  much  real  estate  and  of  mill 
property  and  builder  of  iron  works  in  the  town.  He  died 
in  1804.  Donald,  his  ninth  and  last  child,  whose  birth 
August  16,  1789,  appears  on  the  family  record,  died  at 
the  age  of  two  years  and  one  month.  As  his  death  is  not 
here  recorded  it  would  appear  that  this  plate  was  engraved 
between  Aug.,  1789  and  Sept.,  1791.  The  engraving  on 
this  plate  is  not  reversed  as  on  plates  designed  to  be  used 
for  printing,  but  reads  from  left  to  right.  Its  size  is  16 
by  12  inches.  This  plate  has  passed  by  inheritance  to 
the  third  generation  of  Angus'  descendants,  being  now 
owned  by  Mrs.  John  A.  Butler  of  Hartford.  It  is  this 
plate  which  gives  the  name  of  the  engraver  of  this  and  by 
comparison  identifies  the  engraver  of  other  plates,  for  it  is 
signed  "  R.  Brunton.  Sculp."     A  full-sized  detail  of  the 

*  Catalogue  of  the  Manson  sale,  part  3,  No.  562;     C.  F.  Libbie  &  Co., 
Boston,  April  6,  1904. 

**Statement  of  the  late  Charles  J.  Hoadly  of  Hartford. 

[32] 


:•       k 


•• 


part  bearing  the  signature  is  given,  and  the  whole  plate  is 
reproduced  on  a  reduced  scale.  Unfortunately  in  making 
the  reproduction  the  margin  bearing  the  name  was  trimmed 
from  the  cut  of  the  whole  plate.  The  letter  u  in  the 
name  Brunton  is  clearer  on  the  plate  itself  than  in  the 
reproduction. 

The  book-plate  of  Josiah  Olcott  is  known  to  the 
writer  only  through  a  wood  cut  reproduction  which  forms 
the  frontispiece  to  the  second  edition  of  the  Olcott  gene- 
alogy published  at  Albany  in  1874.  No  mention  is  made 
of  the  plate  in  the  text  of  the  book.  The  reproduction 
bears  apparent  evidence  of  being  a  poor  and  convention- 
alized copy.  Yet  the  style  of  Brunton's  work  is  very 
evident  in  the  hatched  lines,  the  traces  of  scroll  or  shell 
work,  the  shape  of  the  shield,  the  appearance  of  the  small 
branches  and  flowers  and  the  form  of  the  lettering  as  well 
as  its  position  on  the  ribbon. 

This  plate  probably  belonged  to  Josiah,  the  son  of 
Thomas  and  Sarah  Olcott  of  Stratford,  Conn.,  who  was 
born  July  19,  1760,  and  married  June  7,  1794,  Deborah 
daughter  of  Thomas  Worth  of  Nantucket.  He  removed, 
probably  before  his  marriage,  to  Hudson,  N.  Y.,  where  he 
died  in  the  one  hundredth  year  of  his  age.  To  Thomas 
W.  Olcott  of  Albany,  one  of  the  thirteen  children  of  this 
Josiah,  the  publication  of  the  genealogy  in  which  this  plate 
appears  is  due. 

Another  Josiah  Olcott,  a  resident  of  East  Hartford, 
died  February  8,  1785,  aged  eighty-four.  He  left  a  son, 
Josiah,  who  was  born  October  30,  1749,  married  a  Miss 
Babcock  of  Coventry  and  soon  after  marriage  removed  to 
Manlius,   N.   Y .,  where  his  two  children   were  born. 

I  Ik-  elder  of  the  two  Josiahs  last  mentioned  probably 
died  too  early  to  have  been  the  owner  of  the  book-plate; 
while  the  removal  of  his  son  to  New  York  state,  together 
with  the  fact  that  the  compiler  and  publisher  of  the  lamil\ 

5  [33] 


genealogy  seemed  to  know  very  little  of  this  family,  make 
it  altogether  likely  that  the  Josiah  of  Stratford  was  the 
owner  of  the  plate. 

The  Peter  Osgood  book-plate  is  known  to  the  writer 
only  through  a  photograph  in  the  possession  of  Charles 
Dexter  Allen,  who  does  not  now  recall  whence  it  came  to 
him.  No  Osgood  family  is  found  in  Andover,  Conn.,  but 
in  Essex  county,  Mass.,  there  were  a  number  of  Peter 
Osgoods,  and  in  Andover  of  that  county  were  at  least 
two,  father  and  son,  who  might  have  been  the  possessor  of 
the  book  plate  under  consideration. 

The  elder,  Capt.  Peter  Osgood,  was  a  man  of  promi- 
nence and  held  many  official  positions  in  the  town,  was  a 
captain  in  the  French  and  Indian  War,  representative  and 
magistrate.  He  was  born  in  17  17,  married  Sarah  John- 
son in  1742,  and  died  in  1801.  His  age  and  the  possibility 
that  Brunton  did  not  go  to  Andover  before  1801  make 
it  unlikely  that  he  was  the  possessor  of  the  book-plate  in 
question. 

His  son,  Peter  Osgood,  Esq.,  who  was  probably  the 
owner  of  the  plate,  was  born  June  24,  1745.  He  married 
in  1788  Hannah  Porter  of  Ipswich,  who  survived  him, 
living  until  Sept.  17,  1854.  His  business  was  that  of  a 
merchant.  He  was  a  member  of  the  State  Convention 
for  the  adoption  of  a  Constitution  in  1783,  was  represent- 
ative in  1787  and  was  a  magistrate.  Among  his  four 
children  was  Rev.  Peter,  minister  for  twenty  years  at 
Stirling,  Mass.  The  inventory  of  his  estate  taken  soon 
after  his  death,  which  occurred  Jan.  3,  1801,  amounts  to 
$3343.81  and  notes,  besides  some  "old  pamphlets",  a  li- 
brary of  thirty-four  bound  volumes,  including  a  large 
Bible,  Hervey's  Dialogues,  Universal  Spectator,  Memoirs 
of  the  American  Academy,  Massachusetts  Laws,  Looking 
unto  Jesus,  Reflector,  Connections  of  the  Old  Testament, 
and  Salmon's  Grammar. 

[34] 


4  mm 


v^ 


■ 


A  small,  well  preserved,  leather  bound  volume,  The 
Seasons,  by  James  Thompson,  printed  in  London  in  1790, 
now  owned  by  Frank  B.  Gay  of  Hartford,  contains  the 
book-plate  of  Oliver  Pease.  Dr.  Pease  was  born  in 
1760  in  Suffield,  Conn.,  ami  was  a  lifelong  resident  of  that 
town,  dying  in  1843.  For  more  than  forty  years  he  was 
the  town's  physician,  and  his  three-bladed  bleeding  lancet 
now  in  the  writer's  possession  gives  a  glimpse  of  his  method 
of  practice,  which  indeed  was  the  universal  method  of  the 
time.  For  more  than  twenty  years  he  served  as  town 
clerk,  and  his  local  renown  seems  to  have  been  as  great  in 
law  as  in  physics.  His  memorandum  book  of  his  legal 
doings,  also  in  the  writer's  possession,  is  methodically  kept 
and  gives  almost  daily  entries  of  documents  drawn  or  re- 
corded and  of  other  legal  matters  attended  to  for  his 
townsmen.  He  was  also  a  Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  for 
some  years  Judge  of  Probate  for  the  district  of  Suffield. 
He  married  in  1795  Cynthia  Smith  of  Suffield,  and  was 
the  father  of  one  child,  Emily  L.,  who  married  a  Clark. 
Their  daughter,  Emily  P.  Clark,  lived  on  the  old  home- 
stead, just  north  of  the  buildings  of  the  Connecticut  Liter- 
ary Institution,  until  her  death  in  1885  at  the  age  of  sixty. 
The  old  house  was  a  veritable  curiosity  shop  of  antiques, 
and  among  its  treasures  was  this  book  with  its  mark  of 
ownership.  The  book  passed  into  possession  of  Miss 
Clark's  second  cousin,  Mrs.  Sarah  L.  Fuller  of  Suffield,  by 
whom  it  was  presented  to  Mr.  Gay,  whose  father  was  the 
same  relation  as  Mrs.  Fuller  to  Dr.  Pease. 

The  only  copy  seen  of  the  family  "  REGISTER  "  blank 
is  an  unused  one  belonging  to  the  Connecticut  Historical 
Society  of  Hartford.  Its  plate  mark  measures  nine  by 
thirteen  and  three-fourths  inches.      A  Legend  across  the  top 

reads  "Keep  sacred   the   Memory  of"   your    Incestors." 

Below  is  a  large  eagle,  while  below  that   and  at   the  sides 
are   allegorical    ligures  crudely    drawn    represent mg    Faith, 

[35] 


Hope,  Charity,  Peace,  and  Fame.  There  are  also  a  pair 
of  billing  doves  and  a  pelican  feeding  her  young  in  the 
traditional  manner.  A  basket  of  flowers  at  the  bottom 
bears  the  familiar  hatched  lines,  and  scroll  work  near  the 
top  carries  the  familiar  shell  appearance.  The  lettering 
and  general  style  of  the  drawing  are  similar  to  other  speci- 
mens of  Brunton's  work. 

The  Rose  book-plate  was  made  known  through  the  dis- 
covery in  1896  by  Mr.  James  Terry,  now  of  Hartford,  of 
two  volumes  each  containing  the  plate  and  later  by  the  find- 
ing of  the  brass  plate.  During  the  same  year  Mr.  Terry 
published  his  discovery  in  his  "  Ex  Libris  Leaflets,  No.  1 ; 
the  Rose  Family  of  Suflield,  Conn.,"  which  reproduced  the 
plate  and  (in  the  case  of  the  copy  presented  to  the  writer) 
was  accompanied  by  a  modern  impression  from  the  origi- 
nal plate.  The  writer  acknowledges  the  courtesy  of  Mr. 
Terry  for  his  permission  to  use  both  plate  and  sketch,  but 
begs  to  differ  from  him  as  to  the  original  owner  of  the 
plate.  As  the  book-plate  appears  in  the  two  volumes 
owned  by  Mr.  Terry  it  bears  only  the  name  Rose,  while 
on  the  brass  itself  as  is  shown  by  the  reproduction  the  name 
Gad  has  been  prefixed.  James  Barlow  Rose,  of  West 
Suflield,  Conn.,  born  April  5,  18 16,  the  son  of  Barlow 
Rose,  who  was  the  son  of  Gad  Rose,  told  the  writer  in 
Aug.,  1903,  that  about  1790,  while  living  with  the  family 
of  his  grandfather,  Gad  Rose,  "  old  Brunton "  had  en- 
graved a  book-plate  for  him.  He  added  that  he  supposed 
the  family  of  his  cousin,  Oliver  Rose,  still  had  the  plate; 
not  knowing  that  it  had  already  passed  into  Mr.  Terry's 
hands.  Oliver  Rose,  whose  residence  was  at  the  old  home- 
stead in  West  Suflield,  was  the  son  of  Curtis  Rose,  who 
was  the  son  of  Gad.  The  style  of  the  engraving  of  the 
word  Gad  shows  it  to  be  the  work  of  another  hand,  and 
Mr.  Terry  makes  the  very  reasonable  guess  that  it  was 
done  by  "  uncle  Harvey  "  Griswold,  a  native  of  Suflield 

[36] 


mk 


JBevf'Ebilo  Slielton 


and  a  counterfeiter.  Gad  Rose  for  whom  the  plate  was 
engraved  was  a  farmer.  He  was  horn  in  1756  and  died 
Sept.  24,  1S37,  when  his  grandson,  James  B.,  was  twenty- 
one  years  old.  Gad's  wife  was  Annora  1  [ale.  Ihev  had 
ten  children. 

The  plate  of  JACOB  SARGEANT  is  not  only  a  good  ex- 
ample of  Brunton's  work  with  the  graver;  hut  it  is  typical 
of  his  style  of  workmanship,  having  most  of  the  peculiari- 
ties that  serve  to  identify  his  work.  Its  owner  was  horn  in 
Mansfield,  Conn.,  Feb.  28,  1761,  the  son  of  Samuel  and 
Hannah  (Baldwin)  Sargeant.  On  Jan.  30,  1785,  he 
married  Olive  Paine.      Nine  children  were  born  to  them. 

Sargeant's  business  life  was  passed  in  Hartford,  where 
he  kept  what  would  perhaps  today  be  called  a  jewelry  store 
on  State  street.  He  was  called  a  "  clockmaker,"  by  which 
was  probably  meant  that  he  manufactured  the  cases,  "set 
up  "  the  works  in  them  and  then  sold  the  tall  clocks.  One 
of  these  clocks,  probably  purchased  from  him  in  January, 
1  8  14,  with  his  name  painted  across  its  face,  stands  in  the 
library  of  the  Connecticut  Historical  Society.  He  also  sold 
watches  and  bead  bags,  and  probably  repaired  both  clocks 
and  watches.  His  newspaper  advertisement  states  that  he 
had  for  sale  silver  and  plated  tea  spoons,  plated  and  brass 
candlesticks,  plated  castors,  military  goods,  swords,  epau- 
lets, hat  tassels,  cords,  stars,  and  fowling  pieces.  At  the 
time  of  his  death,  April  1  1,  [843,  he  was  one  ot  the  tew 
who  still  wore  the  knee  breeches  in  the  style  ol  former 
da\s.  1  lis  home  was  on  Main  street  where  the  C  hcne\ 
building  now  stands. 

The  only  contemporary  print  of  this  plate  that  is 
known  to  exist  is  one  in  a  copy  ot  "  1  he  New  Complete 
Letter  Writer,1'  printed  at   Worcester,   Mass.,  in    [791, 

owned    1)\     Mrs.    Julia     (1'ierson)     Allen    of    Hartford,    a 

daughter  of  William  S.  and  Nanq    (Sargeant)    Pierson 

and   granddaughter  Ol    Jacob   Sargeant. 

[37] 


The  engraved  "  brass  "  of  this  plate  is  now  owned  by 
Mr.  Charles  Dexter  Allen  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  author  of 
"  American  Book- Plates,"  and  a  great-great-grandson  of 
Jacob  Sargeant.  It  has  come  down  in  the  several  genera- 
tions of  the  family,  but  not  by  direct  descent  to  Mr.  Allen. 
Modern  prints  from  this  plate  are  in  the  hands  of  collec- 
tors, and  occasionally  copies  appear  in  sales  which  are 
printed  on  old  paper  and  have  the  stained  and  time-worn 
appearance  of  old  plates.  Do  not  be  deceived  and  accept 
them  as  original. 

Some  fifteen  or  twenty  years  ago  this  "  brass  "  was  al- 
tered from  its  original  condition  by  having  engraved  on  it 
below  the  name  the  date  1789  and  at  the  lower  right  hand 
corner  "  J.  S.  sculp,"  it  being  then  believed  that  the  plate 
was  engraved  by  Sargeant  himself,  and  the  upper  right 
hand  side  of  the  design  was  made  to  correspond  with  the 
opposite  side  by  the  insertion  of  a  dot  in  the  center  of  the 
lozenge  shaped  openings  formed  by  the  crossing  of  the 
hatched  lines.  A  few  copies  struck  from  the  plate  after 
these  additions  had  been  made  are  in  the  hands  of  col- 
lectors. 

Mr.  Allen  has  had  the  added  letters  and  date  removed 
from  the  "  brass,"  but  the  inserted  dots  cannot  of  course 
be  removed. 

John  Sargeant,  a  younger  brother  of  Jacob,  born 
Oct.  5,  1770,  married  in  1799  Fanny  Newberry  of  Wind- 
sor, resided  in  that  town  and  died  there  Jan.  23,  1829.  He 
used  book-plates  printed  from  his  brother's  plate.  This 
was  done  by  covering  the  letters  acob  of  the  given  name, 
or  perhaps  by  not  inking  them  on  the  plate,  while  the 
print  was  being  made,  and  writing  with  ink  the  letters  ohn 
in  their  stead.  The  only  example  known  of  this  plate  was 
in  a  volume  purchased  several  years  since  by  the  writer  at 
a  second  hand  book  store  in  Hartford.  Besides  the 
changed  name  the  plate  also  bears  the  date  1796  written  in 

[38] 


i  <=>i!>       //t/Zi/Ci. 


#Ul~ 


■    »^j»a*i»ms>:> 


ink  following  the  name.  A  fly  leaf  of  the  book  also  bore 
the  autograph  and  date  "John  Sargeant  1796." 

One  of  the  smallest  in  size  of  the  Brunton  plates  is  that 
of  "  REV,d  Philo  Shelton,"  measuring  only  one  and 
three-fourths  by  two  and  one-fourth  inches.  The  heraldic 
shield  which  it  carries  is  less  than  one  inch  in  length.  The 
reproduction  is  from  an  example  owned  by  Mr.  Charles  I\ 
Martin  of  Hartford. 

Philo  Shelton  was  born  in  Ripton  parish,  now  the  town 
of  Huntington,  Conn.,  in  May,  1754.  He  was  gradu- 
ated from  Yale  College  in  1775.  After  studying  theol- 
ogy he  officiated  for  some  time  as  lay  reader  in  several 
parishes  in  the  vicinity  of  Stratfield,  now  Bridgeport.  On 
Aug.  3,  1785,  he  received  Deacon's  orders  at  the  hands  of 
Bishop  Seabury,  and  "  enjoyed  the  distinction  of  being  the 
first  clergyman  episcopally  ordained  in  the  United  States." 
The  same  year  he  took  charge  of  the  three  churches  in 
Fairfield,  Stratfield,  and  Weston,  all  in  the  town  of  Fair- 
field. The  Stratfield  church  became  later  St.  John's 
church  of  Bridgeport,  and  here  Mr.  Shelton  continued  his 
ministry  until  his  resignation  in  1824,  after  which  he  con- 
tinued to  serve  at  Fairfield  until  his  death  February  27, 
1825. 

In  the  History  of  Woodbury,  Conn.,  by  William  Coth- 
ren,  issued  in  1854,  the  book-plate  of  Peter  Sherman 
appears,  printed  from  an  engraved  plate.  No  mention 
is  made  in  the  text  of  the  volume  of  the  print  or  of  any 
Peter  Sherman.  The  Shermans  were  a  numerous  family 
in  the  southwestern  part  of  the  state.  The  only  Peter  that 
the  writer  has  been  able  to  discover  is  mentioned  in  the 
history  of  Stratford,  ami  may  have  lived  in  Bridgewatcr, 
Conn.,  the  son  ot  an  l.phraim  Sherman.  No  immediate 
dates  concerning  him  are  given,  but  the  marriage  ol  his 
grandfather  in  17 12  would  indicate  that  he  might  have 
been  of  a  suitable  age  to  have  had  a  hook-plate  cngra\  ed  l>\ 

[39] 


Brunton.  The  only  impression  seen  of  this  plate,  con- 
cerning which  there  can  be  no  question  of  its  age  and 
authenticity,  is  in  the  collection  of  Mr.  William  E.  Baillie. 
It  is  believed  that  a  counterfeit  of  this  plate  has  recently 
been  made  by  one  who  has  acquired  a  reputation  for  doing 
that  kind  of  work,  and  that  some  collectors  have  been  de- 
ceived by  impressions  from  this  counterfeit,  mistaking 
them  for  early  impressions  from  the  original  plate.  The 
original  metal  plate  cannot  now  be  located. 

The  plate  of  "Rev.  Henry  B.  Sherman,  M.A.,"  of 
Esopus,  N.  Y.,  now  deceased,  who  may  have  been  a 
descendant  of  Peter,  bears  a  strong  resemblance  to  the 
Peter  Sherman  plate  and  was  doubtless  copied  from  it. 

The  plate  of  John  Tyler,  A.M.,  is  undoubtedly 
Brunton's  work,  although  it  differs  from  other  book-plates 
engraved  by  him  in  the  absence  of  both  the  hatched  lines 
and  the  shell  or  scroll  work.  But  the  book,  the  helmet, 
the  lettering  of  the  motto  and  the  form  of  the  supporting 
"  catamounts"  are  precisely  in  the  style  of  his  work  as  it 
appears  on  other  plates. 

John  Tyler  was  the  only  son  of  John  and  Mary  (Doo- 
little)  Tyler  and  was  born  in  Wallingford,  Conn.,  Aug. 
15,  1742.  He  was  graduated  from  Yale  College  in  1765, 
and  received  the  Bachelor's  and  Master's  degrees  from 
King's  College  in  1767  and  1769  respectively.  He  em- 
braced the  faith  of  the  church  of  England,  was  lay  reader 
for  a  short  time  in  Guilford,  and  in  May,  1768,  set  sail  for 
England  to  receive  orders.  The  next  month  he  was  or- 
dained a  Priest  at  Fulham  Palace,  London,  and  the  follow- 
ing month  was  appointed  to  the  Mission  at  Norwich.  Ar- 
riving at  Norwich  on  November  first  he  continued  in 
charge  there  for  more  than  fifty-four  years  until  his  death, 
Jan.  20,  1823,  "  having  survived  all  the  rest  of  the  Connec- 
ticut clergy  who  had  received  orders  in  England."  At  the 
time  of    the   Revolution   he  was   unwilling  to  omit  the 

[40] 


^^^fe^^MiJ 


prayers  tor  the  King  and  in  consequence  his  church  was 
closed  from  April,  1776,  to  November,  1  7 7 S,  service  be- 
ing held  in  private  houses.  He  was  very  mild  in  manner 
and  temperament,  not  strong  on  points  of  doctrine,  ami  for 
a  time  bore  the  reputation  of  being  a  Universalist. 

The  metal  plate  is  now  owned  by  Mr.  W.  T.  Olcott 
of  Norwich,  a  great-grandson  of  John  Tyler,  to  whom  it 
has  come  by  inheritance.  No  original  impressions  from 
this  plate  are  known.  In  1896  Mr.  Olcott  permitted  Mr. 
James  Terry  to  have  some  impressions  made  which  he  used 
to  accompany  his  "Ex  Libris  Leaflets,  number  2,"  upon 
Rev.  John  Tyler. 

The  example  of  "  D.  Waldo's  "  book-plate  here  repro- 
duced belonged  without  question  to  the  Rev.  Daniel  Waldo 
who  was  graduated  from  Yale  College  in  1788.  He  was 
born  in  Windham,  Conn.,  Sept.  10,  1762,  and  died  in 
Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  at  the  age  of  101  years,  10  months,  and 
20  days.  When  a  young  man  he  served  in  the  Revolution 
about  ten  months  and  was  for  two  months  a  prisoner  in 
the  "  Sugar  House"  at  New  York.  After  graduation  he 
studied  theology  under  Rev.  Levi  I  Iart  of  Preston,  and 
then  preached  for  short  periods  at  South  Mansfield, 
Bristol,  Cornwall,  Torrington,  and  West  I  Iartford,  Conn. 
On  May  24,  1792,  he  was  ordained  over  the  Congrega- 
tional church  in  West  Suffield,  where  he  remained  eighteen 
years.  Later  he  was  settled  for  twelve  years  at  Exeter 
parish,  Lebanon,  Conn.,  and  also  preached  tor  short  times 
in   Rhode  Island  and  Massachusetts,  and  in   [835  removed 

to  the  state  of  New  York.     On  the  221I  of  December, 

[856,  when  ninety-six  yean  ol  age,  he  was  chosen  chaplain 
ot    the    United   States    I  louse  ol    Representatives,   and   was 

re-elected  tin-  next  year.  His  wile  was  Nancj  Hanchetl 
<>i    Suffield,  and  they   were  the  parents  of  five  children. 

I  his  plate  was  doubtless  engraved  while  Hrunton  and 
Waldo   were   living  as   neighbors   in    the    village   ol    West 

[4»] 


Suffield  after  the  latter' s  ordination  there  in  1792.  The 
original  of  this  reproduction  is  owned  by  Mr.  Charles  T. 
Martin  of  Hartford. 

The  most  important  example  of  Brunton's  engraving 
is  his  portrait  of  George  Washington.  This  was  pub- 
lished as  frontispiece  to  an  anonymous  pamphlet  by  Charles 
Henry  Wharton  bearing  the  following  title  and  imprint: 

A  Poetical  Epistle  to  his  Excellency  George  Washing- 
ton, Esq;  Commander  in  Chief  of  the  Annies  of  the 
United  States  of  America.  From  An  Inhabitant  of  the 
State  of  Maryland.  To  which  is  annexed,  A  Short  Sketch 
of  Gen.  Washington's  Life  and  Character.  .  .  .  London, 
Printed;  Providence  (Rhode  Island)  Re-printed  and  Sold 
by  Bennett  Wheeler,  at  his  Office  on  the  West  Side  of  the 
Great  Bridge.  M,DCC,LXXXI. 

The  pamphlet  was  advertised  in  the  issue  of  March  17 
of  the  American  Journal  and  Daily  Advertiser,  published 
in  Providence. 

The  London  edition  of  the  Poetical  Epistle,  printed  in 
1780,  from  which  this  edition  was  reprinted,  has  as  front- 
ispiece a  portrait  of  Washington  engraved  by  William 
Sharpe.  From  this  Brunton  engraved  his  portrait,  but  he 
did  not  make  an  exact  copy  as  various  accessories  were 
added,  which  are  fully  described  in  Charles  Henry  Hart's 
Catalogue  of  the  Engraved  Portraits  of  Washington,  No. 
93 ;  and  probably  because  it  is  a  copy  from  another  por- 
trait it  has  very  few  of  the  characteristics  of  Brunton's 
work.  It  is  the  only  example  of  his  work  printed  from  a 
metal  plate  engraved  by  him  which  bears  his  name  — 
"  Brunton  Sculp4,"  the  Humphreys  portrait  having  only 
his  initials,  and  the  Nickelson  plate  not  being  engraved  for 
printing. 

The  full  legend  below  the  portrait  is  as  follows: 
"  George  Washington  Commander  in  Chief  of  ye  Armies 
of  ye  United  States  of  America.     Brunton  ScupV     The 

[4*] 


/^sJL#C>  item 


i  a 


f*r 


AMOS  WHITE. 


accompanying  reproduction  is  from  a  copy  of  the  pamphlet 
in  the  library  of  the  Rhode  Island  Historical  Society,  from 
a  photograph  procured  through  the  courtesy  of  Clarence 
S.  Brigham,  the  society's  librarian.  Another  copy  of  the 
pamphlet  with  the  engraving  has  been  for  some  years  in 
the  collection  of  Mr.  Z.  T.  Hollingsworth  of  Boston, 
Mass.  A  third  copy  of  the  engraving,  No.  1535  in  the 
catalogue  of  the  Dr.  Charles  E.  Clark  collection,  sold  at 
Libbie's  in  Jan.  1901,  brought  $107.50  and  is  said  to 
have  gone  to  New  York. 

The  Noah  WELLS  who  possessed  a  book-plate  cannot 
be  identified  with  certainty.  The  only  person  found  bear- 
ing the  name  at  the  period  when  Brunton  was  engraving 
was  a  resident  of  East  Windsor,  Conn.,  a  town  situated 
near  to  both  Hartford  and  Suffield.  This  Noah's  wife 
was  Elizabeth  Moore,  born  in  East  Windsor,  Nov.  15, 
1757.  The  baptisms  of  their  six  children  are  recorded  on 
the  East  Windsor  church  records  from  June,  1792,  to 
April,  1795.  The  only  copy  seen  of  this  plate  is  a  modern 
impression  in  the  collection  of  Mr.  William  E.  Baillie. 

The  little  silver  coin  marked  with  the  name,  date  of 
death,  and  age  of  W.  Wheeler  is  engraved  in  Brunton's 
style  and  is  probably  his  work.  Unfortunately,  the  name 
has  been  badly  scratched.  The  letters  on  the  other  side  of 
the  coin,  which  may  refer  to  President  George  Washing- 
ton, have  the  characteristics  of  the  initials  seen  on  silver 
spoons  that  were  probably  engraved  by  Brunton.  W. 
Wheeler  may  have  been  the  Whittelsey  Wheeler,  son  of 
Joseph,  born  in  Derby  or  Stratford,  Conn.,  Sept.  19,  1  7S4, 
although  this  would  make  his  age  at  the  date  given  only 
ten  vcars  and  two  months  instead*  of  eleven  years.  The 
coin  is  owned  by  the  Connecticut  Historical  Society. 

In  I  860,  while  his  "  Memorials  of  Elder  John  White  " 

was  in  the  press,  the  late  Allyn  Stanley  Kellogg  discovered 

a  single  impression  of  a  book-plate  bearing  (he  name    V.MOS 

[4:,  l 


White.  This  Amos,  the  son  of  Capt.  Elijah  White,  was 
born  in  Chatham,  Conn.,  Nov.  20,  1745,  and  died  in  Mer- 
iden  Aug.  21,  1825.  He  settled  in  East  Haddam  and  was 
there  engaged  in  foreign  trade.  His  wife  was  Sarah  Gris- 
wold  of  East  Haddam,  and  they  were  the  parents  of  ten 
children.  The  plate  discovered  by  Mr.  Kellogg  cannot 
now  be  found,  but  it  has  been  reengraved  with  the  substitu- 
tion of  a  Latin  motto  for  the  name  Amos  White  upon  the 
ribbon,  and  as  here  reproduced  is  now  used  by  Rev.  Ers- 
kine  N.  White  of  New  York. 

The  arms  as  blazoned  on  this  plate  agree  very  closely 
with  the  arms  borne  by  John  White,  Lord  Mayor  of  Lon- 
don in  1563.  It  is  known  that  he  had  a  son  Robert,  and 
it  is  also  known  that  the  father  of  Elder  John  White,  who 
came  to  this  country  in  1632,  was  named  Robert.  These 
circumstances  make  this  coat  of  arms  of  unusual  interest. 

John  Williams,  Esq.,  was  a  native  and  life-long  resi- 
dent of  Wethersfield,  Conn.  Born  September  11,  1762, 
he  was  twice  married,  was  the  father  of  ten  children,  and 
died  December  19,  1840.  He  was  graduated  from  Yale 
College  in  178  1,  studied  law  and  practiced  in  Wethersfield. 
His  interest,  however,  was  not  in  law  but  in  literature; 
and  to  literature,  philanthropy  and  society,  his  life  was  de- 
voted, his  means  permitting  him  to  thus  gratify  his  taste. 
"  In  the  great  benevolent  objects  of  the  day,  he  was  munifi- 
cent, in  private  charities  unceasing.  To  uncommon  per- 
sonal beauty,  were  added  courtliness  of  dress  and  manners 
of  the  Revolutionary  age." 

Although  his  book-plate  differs  in  some  respects  from 
most  of  those  engraved  by  Brunton,  yet  the  hatched  lines 
at  either  side  of  the  shield,  the  form  of  the  helmet  above 
it,  and  of  the  lion  upon  it,  are  precisely  in  his  style.  The 
metal  plate  is  stated  on  good  authority  to  have  been  about 
a  dozen  years  ago  in  the  possession  of  "  Squire  "  Williams' 
grand-nephew,  Maj.  John  C.  Parsons  of  Hartford.     Yet 

[44] 


roHN-wiLLiAacs 


at  this  time  Maj.  Parsons'  son,  Col.  Francis  Parsons,  is 
unable  to  find  it  among  his  late  father's  effects  and  does  not 
recall  ever  having  seen  it.  An  original  impression  of  the 
book-plate  is  in  Col.  Parsons'  possession. 

Erastus  Worthing] ox  was  born  in  Colchester, 
Conn.,  a  town  about  midway  between  Hartford  and  New 
London,  on  May  8,  1761.  There  he  married  Ann 
Taintor.  In  later  life  he  removed  to  Brooklyn,  N.  Y., 
where  he  was  engaged  in  the  book  business  and  where  he 
died,  perhaps  on  Jan.  8,  1831.  His  widow  died  about 
1836.  Their  children  were  Erastus,  Alfred,  and  William. 
They  were  the  great-grandparents  of  Charles  Battell 
Loomis,  the  author. 

The  only  impression  of  this  plate  known  to  the  writer 
is  in  a  volume  now  deposited  in  the  Norfolk  Library,  Nor- 
folk, Conn.  The  volume  is  the  property  of  Miss  Isabella 
Lldridge  of  Norfolk,  a  cousin  ol  Mr.  Loomis. 

In  addition  to  the  engravings  which  have  been  partic- 
ularly mentioned  it  is  probable  that  Brunton  did  consider- 
able work  in  engraving  initials  or  monograms,  and  perhaps 
other  designs,  upon  spoons  and  other  household  silverware. 
Col.  Frederick  W.  Prince  of  Hartford  has  a  silver  spoon 
which  was  purchased  from  the  store  of  Jacob  Sargeant  in 
Hartford  about  1793,  bearing  initials  and  other  or- 
namental marks  engraved  at  the  time  of  purchase  which 
follow  very  closely  the  style  of  Brunton's  work.  And  the 
writer  has  seen  other  spoons  of  about  the  same  period, 
owned  in  the  vicinity  of  Hartford,  bearing  initials  ami 
ornamental  lines  of  similar  style.  The  little  silver  memo- 
rial with  the  letters  G.  W.  shows  the  general  characteristics 
of  the  letters  seen  on  silver  spoons  believed  to  have  been 

engraved  by  him. 

There  is  reason    lor  believing  that   other  examples  ol 

Brunton's  work  exist,  and  that  the)  will  be  identified  and 

become   known    when   opportunity    lor  comparison   occurs. 


The  writer  will  esteem  it  a  favor  to  be  informed  of  any 
such  that  may  be  discovered. 

A  good  proportion  of  the  owners  of  the  book-plates 
were  men  of  prominence.  Six  of  them  were  graduates  of 
Yale  College,  four  were  ministers,  five  were  physicians, 
one  was  a  member  of  Congress,  at  least  four  were  lawyers, 
and  at  least  six  were  prominent  in  mercantile  or  business 
pursuits.  The  proportion  of  the  thirty-two  metal  plates 
engraved  for  printing  which  have  survived  the  vicissitudes 
of  more  than  a  century  and  are  in  existence  today  is 
remarkable.  Nine  of  them  can  now  be  located  and  six 
others  are  known  to  have  been  in  existence  within  a  few 
years,  and  with  one  exception  (the  Newgate)  probably 
still  exist. 

The  writer  has  learned  of  the  existence  of  original 
impressions  of  but  seventeen,  possibly  eighteen  (the 
Osgood),  of  the  thirty-two  printed  plates;  and  a  number 
of  these  are  represented  by  but  one  or  two  impressions. 

And  now  a  general  summarizing  of  the  engravings 
executed  by  Brunton  may  be  of  interest.  Two  are  signed 
with  his  name,  and  one  with  his  initials.  Seven  small  silver 
pieces  may  be  classed  as  medals,  ornaments,  or  memorial 
engravings;  and  with  these  might  be  classed  the  designs 
on  the  Larrabee  watch.  The  Nickelson  family  record 
plate  does  not  group  with  any  of  the  others.  All  of  the 
above  are  metal  plates  which  were  not  intended  for  use 
in  printing,  as  the  lettering  or  design  upon  them  is  not 
reversed.  The  engravings  which  follow  are  recognized 
by  their  printed  impressions,  the  lettering  or  design  being 
reversed  in  cutting  it  upon  the  metal  plate.  One  of  these, 
the  Washington,  is  a  portrait  designed  to  accompany  a 
printed  work;  three,  the  Newgate,  the  family  register,  and 
the  Masonic  plate,  may  be  called  miscellaneous.  The 
others,  twenty-eight  in  number  if  we  include  the  assumed 
Cannon   plate   and   the    redrawn    Ingraham    and   Olcott 

[46] 


plates  and  omit  the  John  Sargeant  plate,  are  book-plates. 
This  includes  the  Reuben  Humphreys  and  Samuel  Mather 
portraits  which  are  assumed  to  have  been  intended  for  use 
as  book-plates,  although  no  instance  of  such  use  is  known. 
The  writer  wishes  to  return  a  grateful  acknowledgment 
to  the  numerous  friends  whose  names  appear  in  this  article 
tor  the  assistance  they  have  given  in  its  preparation.  With 
a  single  exception,  every  person  whose  aid  was  solicited  has 
given  generous  assistance;  and  particular  mention  must  be 
made  of  two,  but  for  whom  this  article  could  scarcely  have 
been  prepared — Mr.  Charles  Dexter  Allen  of  Brooklyn, 
for  main  helpful  suggestions  and  the  knowledge  of  nu- 
merous plates,  and  Mr.  William  E.  Baillie  of  Bridgeport 
for  access  to  and  the  use  of  numerous  plates  from  his 
superb  collection. 


While  this  pamphlet  is  in  press  the  "  Old  Northwest 
Genealogical  Quarterly,"  in  its  April  number,  publishes  a 
cut  of  the  "  Cooley  arms,"  evidently  reproduced  from  an 
engraving  by  Brunton.  Through  correspondence  with  the 
editor  of  the  magazine  it  is  learned  that  the  cut  is  from  an 
impression  of  the  book-plate  of  Rev.  Timothy  Mather 
COOLEY,  owned  now  by  Mrs.  Marshall  Smith  of  Colum- 
bus, Ohio,  and  formerly  by  Mrs.  Hattie  C.  Stevenson  of 
Pittsfield,  Mass.,  a  granddaughter  of  Mr.  Cooley. 

Timothy  Mather  Cooley  was  born  in  Granville,  Mass., 
March  13,  1772,  and  died  there  Dec.  14,  1859.  He  was 
graduated  from  Vale  in  1792  and  delivered  an  oration  in 
1  [ebrew  at  that  time.  In  February,  1796,  he  was  ordained 
pastor  of  the  East  Granville  church  in  his  native  town, 
and  continued  in  that  office  until  his  death,  although  dur- 
ing the  last  five  years  a  colleague  relieved  him  trom  active 

duties.     A  "Jubilee"  was  held  in  Granville  in   [ 84c,  upon 
the   fiftieth   anniversary  o!    his  first   sermon    in   that    place. 


[47 


During  most  of  his  life  he  maintained  a  classical  school 
in  his  house,  at  which  above  eight  hundred  pupils  received 
tuition  from  him.  He  was  a  man  of  great  influence  and 
of  strong  convictions. 


[48] 


z  7  £3 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 
Ibis  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


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MAIN.  LOAN  DESK 
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DW 


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P.M. 

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